


Avatar: Lifetimes Intertwined

by TheTuskenClanker



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Airbending & Airbenders, Avatar Cycle, Bending (Avatar), Earthbending & Earthbenders, F/M, Firebending & Firebenders, Inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender, Original Avatar Character (Avatar TV), Original Character(s), Pre-Canon, Waterbending & Waterbenders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 24,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26445181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTuskenClanker/pseuds/TheTuskenClanker
Summary: Thousands of years before Avatar Aang fought the Fire Nation, the Fire Nation was involved in another conflict: one they were on the losing side against. At this point in history, the Fire Nation was not the mighty military power it was in the days of the hundred year war. When a waterbender named Ramaako fuses with a malevolent spirit and gains the ability to bend two elements, he sees the state of the Fire Nation and decides to conquer it and mold it into his image. The Avatar at the time, Avatar Torren, has to defeat Ramaako before he can conquer all of the Fire Nation with his army of waterbenders
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: Avatar: The Last Airbender





	1. Chapter 1

Torren’s long, dark brown hair blew in the wind as he focused on maintaining his glider level. His balance was disrupted when one of his classmates, Lacci, darted past him to his right, their wings almost colliding. He quickly angled his right wing upwards, to avoid hitting her, but this sudden change caused him to get pulled to the left, and he had to quickly readjust to stop himself from colliding with the outside of the Eastern Air Temple. 

“Hey, watch it!” he yelled up at Lacci, who had barely noticed that she almost hit him. 

“Sorry Torren!” she yelled back. 

Well, he assumed that was what she yelled back since he could barely hear over the rushing sound of the air bouncing around in his ears. This gave him the perfect opportunity to remember how much he hated airbending. He was much more comfortable on the ground, where he could walk with one foot in front of the other, instead of having to move air around some thin sheet of paper just to keep himself from plummeting down from an indiscernible height. 

He realized that he had accidentally tilted his nose a bit too far down just as he was about to hit part of the mountain, and he rose back up to the same level as the rest of the group. “You okay there Torren?” He looked to his right to see Lacci had fallen back to check on him. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he responded coldly, as he blamed her in part for his plummet towards the mountain. “Good to hear!” she yelled back at him, already speeding forward in an attempt to be the first one back at the temple.

Torren landed shakily, as he had been chastised the last time he used earthbending to stop his momentum. His instructor approached him to tell him about his progress. “You’ve been doing well, Avatar Torren.” said a long-robed airbender. He was an imposing figure, yet sometimes a bit overly positive. 

“Thanks, Monk Yamuu, but I’ve been struggling lately.” Yamuu stroked his nonexistent beard for a few seconds, then spoke up. 

“I have an idea Torren, why don’t you talk to one of your past lives? I’m sure they’d be able to give you some wonderful advice on how to improve your airbending.” Torren, realizing it was actually a decent idea, though not wanting to give Yamuu the satisfaction of hearing him admit it, responded with a half-hearted “Yeah, I guess.”

Torren entered his dwelling and realized how excited he was to be leaving the Eastern Air Temple in a few days. He grabbed the dark blue belt on one of his shelves and sat down in the middle of his room. He then concentrated on slowing his breathing and connecting to his past. He opened his eyes, and a woman who looked like she was in her early twenties was sitting in front of him. She wore a black shirt under a loose blue sleeveless gi with a white collar tucked into grey pants. She had black hair that reached past her shoulders, though all of her features had a slightly bluish tint. “Hey, Sumatra,” Torren spoke up. 

She smiled at the sight of her next life. “What is it, Torren?” 

He sighed and began to speak. “I’ve been struggling a lot with my airbending training. I can’t seem to grasp the Air Nomads’ ideology of leaving the world behind. Especially for me. How am I supposed to leave behind the world I’m supposed to protect?” 

Sumatra thought about how she would answer for a few seconds before giving her response. “I won’t say that I agree with the Air Nomads’ philosophy, because I don’t. However, you can still master airbending without agreeing with their perspective. You need to focus on what you’ve already learned from other styles of bending.” Torren looked confused, so she continued. “Firebending has a lot to do not only with the spark, but also what feeds the flame, and what gives it life. Most fires require fuel, but in the case of firebending, you are that fuel. You work for the fire, and it works for you, no? You need to do the same thing with airbending. Be what fuels and guides the air around you, not what pushes it. If you move it in a way it wants to go, it will work for you. Do you get what I’m saying?” 

Torren thought about it for a few seconds, and then grasped the idea she was trying to communicate. “Yeah, I do. Thank you, Sumatra, for always helping me out.” 

She responded with a snarky comment, as she usually did. “Well, I’m being forced to, so it’s not like I have a choice.” Torren closed and then reopened his eyes, and she was no longer visible to him.

\---

A stream of water shot at an incredible speed at the head of a training dummy in the Southern Water Tribe’s advanced training hall. The water froze around the dummy’s head and was drawn towards the knee of a waterbender. The ice broke from the force, and a crack formed on its head. “Well done, Ramaako.” came the voice of a man, around 60 years old. “I’d say you are probably the best waterbender in the entire Southern Water Tribe.” 

The man who had just been practicing his waterbending bowed at his master, his medium-length black hair nearly covering his face as he went down. As he rose, he pulled his hair back behind his ears to reveal the face of a 32-year-old man. 

“Thank you, master Ja’ho. I have been able to grow a lot under your instruction.” 

Ja’ho grinned at him and said to him, “We have done more than enough today. You deserve some rest.” Ramaako obliged and exited the hall, in the direction of his home.

He arrived at his home shortly thereafter and sat down on his cot in the back of the small room. He grabbed a painting off of his nightstand, of a woman with long black hair. “Why did you have to go, Sumatra? The police would have handled it. Mother was so distraught after your passing, she didn’t speak for weeks after we received word from the Earth Kingdom.” He sighed, putting the picture back, realizing what he was doing was stupid. As he laid down on his cot, he saw a shadowy figure in the doorway. He sat up and asked the figure, “What do you want?” The figure removed its cloak, and Ramaako saw that its face wasn’t a human’s, but something more akin to a raven-hawk. It had black feathers that moved slowly as it opened its beak to speak. 

“We are darkness, yet we are power. We are Taakisho.”

**_\---END OF CHAPTER ONE---_ **


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late update, my laptop is messed up right now so I had to log into Google Docs and update from mobile.

Ramaako looked at the man - no, the spirit - confusedly. Why was it there? What did it want? What were its intentions? These questions circled around in Ramaako’s mind before the spirit began. “We are spirits that have the power to give our power to a human, in exchange for, how do I put this, becoming part of them. You will gain the ability to bend another element, a power only known by the Avatar themself. You will have power over almost anyone who tries to oppose you.” 

Ramaako thought about what the spirit was saying. Another element? Such a thing had never been heard of before. Then again, the spirit did say that it was a power known by the Avatar, so that could mean that they were from the time the Avatar first came into existence. Even then, it was incredibly difficult to believe that he could bend another element just by making an agreement with a spirit. He decided to quiz the spirit. “So, another element, huh? Do I get to choose? Is there like, some sort of wheel that I spin?” 

The spirit was unamused. “The element you gain the ability to bend will be determined by your personality, aspirations, and traits that you share with other benders of that element.” 

“So like, if I were a hard-ass, I’d be able to bend earth?” Ramaako asked, too confident in his abilities to take the spirit seriously.

“Precisely”

He pondered whether or not he should trust this spirit. It seemed incredibly sketchy, and like it definitely wanted something. On the other hand, this was an opportunity for progress, not only for himself but for others. He thought of all of the non-benders who would finally be able to bend. He thought of how much more united the nations would be. He thought of how it would all begin with him agreeing to the spirit’s terms. That reminded him, he needed to be sure of what he was getting into. “What exactly will happen in addition to the bending thing?”

“You will also gain strength and endurance, making you nearly invincible. I would, of course, be part of your conscience, although I would have little influence over your actions. Your cells would also get increasingly more powerful, meaning you only get stronger with age. With this, you’d be theoretically immortal, with age no longer being a factor.”

This was starting to sound like a really good deal to Ramaako, so he figured the downsides would be worth it, despite how vague they were. “Alright, I agree. What now?” Just then, the edges of the Taakisho’s beak slanted upwards, almost like a smile. He lunged forward, the force carrying him off the ground as he spun headfirst towards Ramaako. Ramaako raised his hands to block the incoming attack, but he never felt the impact. Well, he did feel something, although it wasn’t on the surface of his forearms like he expected. Instead, it was a surge, almost like goosebumps only stronger, radiating throughout his body. 

He stood up off the bed to examine his arms. Nothing had visibly changed. He did, however, feel warmer all of the sudden, even though he was still standing in the middle of his room. He turned his palms over to face him and saw that they were glowing bright orange. He focused on stopping it, and after a few seconds, they returned to their normal shade of dark tan. 

He quickly understood that he had gained the ability to firebend. Part of him was just relieved that the spirit was telling the truth, and another part wanted him to master firebending as soon as possible. He decided it would be a good idea to go to the Fire Nation fairly soon to hone his new skills, but he was unsure of how he could leave while remaining unnoticed. “I can’t just announce that I’m leaving, because that will be incredibly suspicious,” he thought to himself. “I can’t just leave unannounced, can I? I don’t have any responsibilities, and our army is mostly used for ceremonies and whatnot.” He continued that train of thought until he decided it would be best to leave with no explanation, as he wasn’t sure he’d even be returning.

\---

One grueling week later, Torren finally finished his airbending training. Although the advice Sumatra gave him helped him out a lot, air was still by far his weakest element. As he wasn’t staying at the temple like the rest of his classmates, Monk Yamuu transported him to the foot of the mountain on his sky bison, Sandstream. “Of course his sky bison is named Sandstream,” Torren thought, as Yamuu was the kind of person who would do that, though Torren was unable to tell if the corny name was satirical or not. He decided it was best not to think about it.

Torren began walking in the direction that Shyazato had told him the Southern Water Tribe would be. He exited the small clearing at the foot of the mountain and walked into the mass of trees in front of him. He was examining his surroundings when all of the sudden he heard someone jump out of a bush behind him. He turned around and raised his hands to send a blast of fire in their direction before he saw who it was. 

There was a girl, around 15 years old, wearing a dark green gi and black pants, with a light tan tunic over it, all tied together with a brown belt. She had her brown hair up in a messy ponytail, and she looked quite startled by Torren’s reaction. She looked familiar, but Torren couldn’t place exactly where he knew her from. She quickly composed herself and raised one had to wave. “Hey Torren!” Hearing her voice, Torren instantly recognized his childhood friend. 

“Oh my gosh Temorane, you scared me. Why are you here? Kasema’s like…” He took a few seconds to try and calculate how far their hometown was, before giving up. “Really far from here. And I doubt you happened to just be randomly walking around the Eastern Air Temple for no reason.”

“Correct!” she exclaimed. “I heard that you were about to complete your airbending training, master Avatar-” she paused for an exaggerated bow “-and decided to join you on your way to the Southern Water tribe because I got bored.”

“I can’t believe you. You seriously left home and came all the way here because you were bored? You’re always so impulsive, you need to think things through better.”

‘“Well all decisions are impulsive to a certain extent, this one was just slightly more impulsive! Either way, you’re not going to tell me to go all the way back home, will you?”

Torren sighed, knowing she was right. It would be nice to have some company while he was on his way to the Southern Water Tribe. “You’re right, and it’s nice to see you.”

“Great! Nice to see you too, Torren. Not much has changed back home without you, but we still miss you.”

Torren was already walking ahead of her, so she had to run to catch up with him, as they began their journey to the Southern Water Tribe.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER TWO---_ **


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd just like to let everyone know about Avatar: Lifetimes Intertwined's subreddit, r/AvatarLTI, where chapters are uploaded a day early.

Ramaako looked out to see the fast-approaching shore of the Fire Nation. Through the fog of the morning, he spotted the silhouette of a village just a bit further inland and decided he’d go there to find a firebending teacher. 

He docked his boat alongside fishing boats that hadn’t been taken out in a few days, with moss already growing on their hulls. He tied down his boat on the dock and decided to find some more fitting attire than his black gi and pants, with a blue collar that was clearly from the Water Tribe. 

He first went to a bank to convert some Water Tribe money into Fire Nation coins. The bank he found had installments in all four nations, meaning they were able to exchange his money for something that would be useful to him in his new surroundings. He found a shop that sold clothing, and he eventually settled on a close match to his other outfit, with an open-chested brown gi with a gold collar, keeping his black pants and boots.

He then walked around the town for a few minutes, trying to find a firebending school. He passed about 5 restaurants serving the same food - or at least what looked like the same food to him - before arriving at Master Lee’s Firebending Academy. He entered and saw a woman with long, black hair and a traditional red and brown Fire Nation hanbok, though the sides had been cut, presumably to facilitate movement. She was instructing some children in basic firebending techniques. She was perplexed when he saw Ramaako, a man obviously not from the Fire Nation, who was about 20 years too old to be in there. 

Ramaako waited for an extremely uncomfortable five minutes before the woman approached him. “Excuse me, sir, I believe you may be looking for a different place. This is-”

“Master Lee’s Firebending Academy. I came because I recently found out I am a firebender.” The woman looked at him inquisitively, not believing one word of what he said. He quickly thought of a cover story. “My mother was a nonbender from the Southern Water Tribe, which is where I grew up. I don’t know who my father is, but my mother told me he was a traveler from the Fire Nation, and I can only assume he was a firebender.”

The woman still knew he was hiding something, but decided to humor him nonetheless. “Alright, I’ll train you. The name of the academy is Lee’s, but you can call me Leesah. Lee was my nickname when I was younger and it kind of st-” She interrupted herself. “Why am I telling you this?” She sighed. “Come here, let’s start with the basics.” 

Ramaako exhibited “natural” talent from the start. He quickly grasped the basics of firebending and its philosophy, before Leesah continued onto more difficult techniques. As Ramaako progressed, Leesah became more and more suspicious of Ramaako. She began asking him questions every time he practiced a new technique, but his answers all checked out.

“Why was there a traveler from the Fire Nation in the Southern Water Tribe?”

“Mom said it had to do with the Water Tribe pushing the border of the fishing territory.”

“How long ago did this happen?”

“33 years to be precise, and I admire your subtle approach of judging my availability.”

She fumbled through her words, as they both simultaneously realized why she was asking so many questions. “Well, what did he look like?”

“How should I know? I wasn’t born yet, dipshit.”

He had seen through her trick, and she finally decided to quit trying to figure out what he was hiding.

\---

Ramaako exited the academy many hours later, the full moon already clearly visible overhead. He had already mastered techniques that would take most naturally born firebenders years to perfect, one of the benefits he received from having the Taakisho be the source of his bending. 

All of the sudden, he heard a large “BANG!” followed by sounds of approval from a crowd. He turned to his left to see a festival going on a few streets away, and decided to go see how other firebenders used their skills.

He arrived at the festival and immediately realized how spoiled the people of the Fire Nation were. There were firebenders left, right, and center, using their abilities to amuse the public. He was particularly disgusted by one performer who was forming shapes to entertain children. He snarled under his breath, knowing how much power this man was wasting so he could do a stupid dance with his hat made of fire. Ramaako felt the power of the full moon coursing through him and focused on the water inside of the performer’s blood. He worked on slowing its flow until it would stop.

_ It started as a sensation of fatigue. I was out of breath and began breathing quicker to compensate. I was in the middle of a performance, so I figured I was just getting tired. I kept having to breathe quicker and quicker until the lights from the festival began blurring into an orange haze in front of my eyes. Black spots then appeared across my vision, spreading until I could no longer see. I was no longer able to breathe either, and my entire body was filled with pain. I tried to move, but I could no longer feel anything, I collapsed - at least, I think I did - onto the ground as I began to lose consciousness. The last thing I heard was the screams of the children who had been laughing so joyously a second before. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t. No, I could scream. I did. I just couldn’t hear it. My senses all went dull until all that was left was my thoughts and the pain. That went away too, after a length of time I can’t determine. Was it seconds? Days, weeks, maybe even years? I had no idea, and eventually, I stopped thinking. _

As Ramaako drained out the screams of everyone around him, he stared at the corpse in satisfaction, the voice in his head letting him know that there were more people like that one. “They don’t realize the blessing their abilities are. They take it for granted. You can’t take away their powers, but you can take away their power. The Governor of the Fire Nation does nothing but sit in his palace all day. He is the one who lets this happen. You must cut them off at their source, then allow your reign to flow down into even the smallest crevices of this wasteland that will soon be a lush jungle of power. With you on top, this nation will thrive. You must save it from itself. It is your duty as one who learned for themselves the power firebending gives an individual. You must grant the Fire Nation salvation.” The voice in Ramaako’s head was right. He knew what he had to do, and  he rushed back to his boat so he could return with an army.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER THREE---_ **


	4. Chapter 4

After a few days of traveling, Torren and Temorane arrived at a small town. As they walked in, Torren spotted a large green and white striped tent in a clearing to the left of it. He hoped that Temorane wouldn’t, but she saw it a few seconds after he did. “Look Torren, a circus! Can we please go? We’ll have plenty of time to get to the Southern Water Tribe after this, and I promise that we'll have no more detours.” 

Torren knew she wouldn’t let up, so he agreed. “Okay, fine. But we can’t stop at every town we go to.”

“Thank you, Torren! We should be at the Southern Water Tribe in a little over a week, so don’t worry and just enjoy the show.”

They both entered the tent side by side and were amazed by what they saw. A large group of acrobats was swinging back and forth on flying trapeze, a duo was jumping back and forth off of an Ember Island plank, and a clown was manipulating another like a marionette using earthbending. Temorane led Torren to a pair of empty seats in the second row, and they sat down to watch. Torren wasn’t really paying attention to the acts, but Temorane was fixated on the acrobats on the flying trapeze. 

She looked up in awe as a teenage boy jumped between two trapezes, and was caught by one of the acrobats swinging by their legs on the second trapeze. All of the sudden, one of the wires of the trapeze snapped, causing both acrobats to fall off. The one who had caught the boy managed to grab on to the trapeze, but the boy continued falling. Temorane yelled at Torren, who had zoned out, “Do something!” Torren quickly reacted and elevated a slab of earth from the ground, and shot a current of air up from under the boy so he would be able to land on the slab with less impact. 

The ringmaster quickly took notice of the maneuver pulled off by an audience member. “That, everyone, was too coordinated to be pulled off by a single person. I believe we have a very special person in our audience today. Has anyone heard of… the Avatar?” The crowd reacted in awe as they realized that Torren was somewhere in the audience. “Now, I’d like to invite the Avatar up to do a trick with us, so come on up!” the ringmaster yelled out into the audience, as he didn’t know which one of the audience members was the Avatar. Torren had no intention of getting up out of his seat, but Temorane grabbed his hand and raised it into the air. “Over here! My friend over here is the Avatar!” The ringmaster smiled at Torren. “Splendid, now come on up here! Don’t be shy!”

Torren’s reluctance to go up onto the stage had nothing to do with shyness and was offended that the ringmaster had claimed that to be the case. “Temorane, would you for once not force me to do everything?” he whispered to her frustratedly, before going up to the stage. The acrobats had stopped their acts when the boy fell, so Torren and the ringmaster were the center of attention. Three performers came out with a chair and a black curtain out. Torren already didn’t like where things were going. “Our trick that we will be performing with our very special guest,” said the ringmaster, pausing for effect, “is a disappearing act!” Torren’s eyes widened as he stared daggers at Temorane. All she could muster was a nervous smile as she mouthed “Sorry!”

The performers sat Torren down in the chair, as two held the curtain so that nobody could see what was going on. The third performer stood behind him, and as the ringmaster was counting down from ten to when the curtain would be removed, the performer quickly jabbed at Torren’s shoulders and the back of his neck. Torren tried to get up, but the performer unlocked two hinges on the back of the chair, folding it down, and pushed Torren into a hole that had just been opened up on the floor. As the ringmaster finished counting down to zero and the curtain was removed, Torren had disappeared. The audience stared in awe and Temorane was so impressed by the trick that the thought of Torren’s whereabouts completely slipped her mind. 

\---

Torren woke up facing the ground with his hands tied behind his back with a rope. He tried to create a small flame to burn off the rope, but for some reason, he was unable to bend. He turned himself over so he was facing sideways, and he recognized the green and white striped pattern of the circus tent. Torren sighed angrily, thinking about how this was all Temorane’s fault. He shot his legs in between his arms so that his hands were now in front of him. 

Suddenly, he heard someone approaching. He rolled over onto his other side and saw a boy walking towards him. He recognized him as the boy he had saved from falling but was confused as to what he wanted. “Hey. I wanted to thank you for saving me,” the boy said. “I would’ve died if not for you.”

“Don’t mention it. Can you untie these?” he responded while holding his hands up in between him and the boy. 

“Yeah, of course.” The boy began untying the rope around Torren’s wrists before continuing. “My name’s Jakkar. You’re Torren, right?”

“Yup, that’s me. How’d you guess?”

Jakkar looked at him unamusedly. “You’re the Avatar. Everyone knows who you are.” During his time at the Eastern Air Temple, Torren had forgotten about the fact that being the Avatar basically turned him into a celebrity throughout the Earth Kingdom.

Torren thanked Jakkar as he finished taking off the rope that bound Torren’s hands together. “Wait, why couldn’t you just remove the ropes with earthbending?”

“I don’t know. I tried firebending but for some reason, I couldn’t bend.”

“They must’ve blocked your chi. Don’t worry, I know a way you can unblock it faster. Jakkar quickly extended his arm and jabbed Torren full force in the solar plexus. Torren hadn’t anticipated the attack, not giving him any time to prepare physically or mentally. He bent over from the force of the attack and yelled at Jakkar, “What the hell was that for?”

Jakkar smirked and responded, “Try bending now.” Torren tried creating a flame and a large burst of fire immediately emanated from his hand. 

“Thank’s for helping me!” he yelled back at Jakkar, already running to try to find an exit. His victory was short-lived, however, as while he was running he was hit in the face with a wall that shot up from the floor. He took a few steps back and felt blood on his face. As the wall went back down into the ground, he was met with The Ringmaster’s gaze, with a malevolent smile on it. He wore white pants and a green gi, which was left open to reveal a heavily tattooed chest. 

He spared no time before recommencing his attack. He began flinging rocks from out of the ground in Torren’s direction, which Torren had to dodge or redirect before they could hit him.

Jakkar caught up to Torren and narrowly avoided getting hit by one of the rocks being hurled by The Ringmaster. “Torren!” he shouted. “I need a boost!” Torren turned around to see him making a motion with his hands that implied he wanted him to give him a boost using earthbending.

Torren hesitated, not wanting to involve another person in this fight, but he figured the kid knew what he was doing. Jakkar began running towards The Ringmaster, and Torren raised a platform of earth underneath his feet. Jakkar pushed off of it, launching himself directly at The Ringmaster. Torren’s eyes widened in disbelief as he saw Jakkar go for the most predictable move possible, extending his arm to punch The Ringmaster in the face. The Ringmaster grabbed Jakkar’s arm using no effort at all, but Jakkar’s momentum continued as he swung around to The Ringmaster’s back. He wrapped his other arm around The Ringmaster’s neck and began to choke him. Torren hadn’t considered the fact that Jakkar was most likely much stronger than most boys his age, seeing as he must’ve been using his arms excessively on the flying trapeze.

The Ringmaster grabbed Jakkar’s arm and threw him over his back, but the distraction gave Torren enough time to get close to The Ringmaster and uppercut him using a pillar of earth. He used the time he had just bought to locate one of the wooden poles supporting the circus tent and used earthbending to elevate it enough to create a small gap that he and Jakkar could slide out under. As Torren and Jakkar ran under the now dark sky, they heard the tent rip behind them. Torren looked bak to see The Ringmaster emerging from the hole. He sent a large blast of fire at The Ringmaster, who dodged it, causing it to hit the tent behind him and set it on fire. The Ringmaster continued his assault, erecting walls in front while shooting rocks from behind the duo, which Torren continued deflecting. As they kept getting more and more tired, Torren realized they couldn’t just keep running. He suddenly changed directions and began raising a wall between him and The Ringmaster. That put enough distance between The Ringmaster and the two, so they were able to escape.

Jakkar trailed Torren back into town as the latter searched for Temorane. Torren ran around to the entrance of the town, which would be the most logical place for her to wait for him. Unfortunately, she was not at the entrance, but Jakkar managed to catch up when Torren stopped to look around more. “What is it you’re looking for?”

“Friend…” Torren said, out of breath. “This tall… green shirt… brown hair,” he said while holding his hand level to where Temorane stood. 

“The one next to you in the audience, right?” Torren nodded. “We’ve been here for a week, so I’ve learned the layout of the town. Follow me.”

Jakkar and Torren found Temorane in the lobby of an inn. “Torren! I was about to go look for you. Where were you?”

“They captured me, thanks to you volunteering me.”

Temorane looked worried, realizing it was worse than she thought. “I’m really sorry, Torren. Well, while you were… busy with that… I bought us a room!” Jakkar and Torren looked at each other, knowing The Ringmaster was probably still hunting them down. “Anyway, who’s he?” Temorane asked, gesturing towards the random person who had run in alongside Torren.

“Oh, this is Jakkar. He helped me escape. I’m sorry, but we can’t stay here. The Ringmaster was keen on making sure I didn’t escape, so I’m sure he is still looking for me.” He then focused his attention on Jakkar. “What do you think he wanted with me, anyway?”

“Probably wanted to sell you. Either that or he wanted a servant and thought it would sound cool to say ‘the Avatar would arrive with drinks for us shortly,’” he said without even needing to think about it.

Temorane had to stop herself from laughing at the image in her head. “Alright, I’ll see if I can get a refund.” She turned to look at the innkeeper, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation. He said nothing and pointed at a sign that read ‘No Refunds.’ Temorane cursed under her breath, though all she really said was ‘fiddle sticks.’

Jakkar interrupted the conversation with an awkward question. “So, uh, can I stay with you guys? I kinda don’t have anywhere to go, considering…” He gestured in the direction of the circus tent, which was most likely in flames, or completely burned down.

Torren began to speak, but was cut off by Temorane. “Of course! That way, we can outvote Torren and do anything we want!”

Torren flinched, realizing how difficult it would be with another member in their party. But, he realized Jakkar wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, so he gave up on trying to come up with a counter-argument. “Okay, but we do need to focus on getting to the Southern Water Tribe. Don’t you forget about that promise you made me, okay?”

Temorane put her hands in the air defensively. “Don’t worry, I won’t! We can go straight to the Southern Water Tribe from here.”

The trio walked out of the inn, with varying levels of excitement for the journey ahead.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER FOUR---_ **

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

“I still feel like I don’t really connect with it. It almost feels… wrong.”

“It’s okay, Torren. You’ll get it eventually. All of your past lives have, and you’re no different.”

“But what if I am? I dislike every aspect of airbending. The philosophy, the practice, the application of it, everything.”

“You still used it to save that boy, didn’t you?”

‘That’s… that’s different. It was mostly done out of reflex, and he would’ve died if I didn’t use airbending.”

“Then that means you do have the capacity to connect with it. At the Eastern Air Temple, you managed to master it. And at the circus, you used it practically. You’ll get there.”

“I still don’t know. Again, I don’t like airbenders in general.”

“Look Torren, the Avatar is a combination of two things. Yes, you are a combination of all of your past lives, but your personality shines through, in everything you do. An Avatar is guided by what they did in the past, but ultimately, all Avatars are different. It’s why you and I are able to have a conversation. There are no rules to being an Avatar. You don’t have to like airbenders or airbending. You just need to know when you have to put your feelings aside and use it. And from what I saw at the circus, you do. I know you can do this, Torren. You’re strong enough to do this, and I know you’ll do a good job as Avatar.”

Torren looked down as he realized that he was just being excessively negative. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I shou-”

“It’s okay, Torren. Again, every Avatar has had struggles. You’re not alone. You have me, and all of your past lives to guide you. So don’t you dare forget that.”

“And I’m left here thanking you again. How do you know so much?”

“I can tell when you’re going to come to talk to me, so I prepare a speech beforehand. Bye, Torren. Good luck.”

Torren was left staring at the blue sheet that served as one of the walls of the tent. Jakkar walked in, then froze, realizing he interrupted something. Torren turned to face him and raised his eyebrows as if he expected him to say something. After a few seconds where neither of them said anything, Torren spoke up. “Do you need something?” 

Jakkar stuttered while giving his response. “Th- We ne- Can w-”

Temorane ran up from behind Jakkar and interrupted him. “Torren, we need to leave!” 

Torren followed them outside of the tent to see The Ringmaster fast approaching from across the bay where they had set up camp. “He found us already?” Torren said. Temorane and Jakkar both looked at each other, but before either of them could say anything, Torren was already running around the bay towards The Ringmaster.

He skidded to a halt after he saw that The Ringmaster had quit moving forward. He looked at him in confusion as he stood there, his hands folded behind his back. Torren approached cautiously as The Ringmaster remained unmoving. Then, as Torren got closer, he heard a piercing screech coming from the bay. He turned to see an enormous black snake-like creature with green eyes and a light brown fin near the top of its head. It had two long whiskers just above its mouth and had a spike of earth lodged into the side of its head.

The creature opened its mouth and brought its head backward, then thrust it forward as a powerful stream of water shot from its mouth at Torren. He quickly raised a wall of earth to block it, but the water shot through and hit Torren. Torren fell back and caught himself with his hands on two platforms of earth he raised from beneath them. Out of the corner of his eye, Torren saw a large spike of earth being shot at him from The Ringmaster’s direction. He let the platforms holding his hands fall a few inches, causing his head to dip and the spike to miss him. 

The spike continued its trajectory, and Temorane saw it as it was already about to hit her. She raised her left arm to shield herself from it, but the impact still made a loud crack as she screamed and was pushed to the floor. She instinctively caught herself on her right hand, but she bit back another scream as a sharp pain shot up her wrist.

Torren’s rage was written all over his face as he stared at The Ringmaster. He put his hands up defensively and started to back away as he saw Torren’s eyes begin to glow a bright white. Torren raised his hands along with two massive walls of earth, and then slammed them down as the walls collapsed and created a shockwave directed at The Ringmaster and the creature. As the dust settled and Torren’s eyes returned to normal, neither of their foes were visible anymore.

\---

Torren ran over to where Jakkar was comforting Temorane. “Is she okay? How bad is it?

Jakkar grimaced as he tried to figure out how to tell Torren of Temorane’s condition. “I think her arm is broken.” Torren froze, his face a mixture of empathy and rage. “And her wrist is sprained. I’ve spent enough time at the circus to know this isn’t good. I’ll go try to find some things to make a splint.” 

Torren walked over to Temorane. “Are you sure you’re okay? You should probably go back home, it’s not safe for you. I can take you back mys-”

“Hey wait a minute, what happened to ‘no more detours?’”

“That still stands, but this is important.”

“I’ll be fine, Torren. My arm is just a little hurt, okay?”

“Temorane, your arm is broken! Do you know how bad that is? What are we even going to do?”

“Torren, it’s okay. I’ll be fine. I have you and Jakkar to take care of me.”

“No, you need to go home. Jakkar can go with you and he can stay with my parents.”

“Torren, you need to have faith in me. I can manage with a broken arm, I will just try to not mess it up further.”

That was when Torren realized he had found the perfect solution. He bent a small rock into a sharp knife and began cutting at Temorane’s left sleeve, careful not to touch her arm. “Torren, what are yo-”

“Shh, I have a plan.” When he was done cutting her sleeve off, he wrapped it carefully around her left arm, covering most of it. He then created a hole in the ground and placed Temorane’s arm in it horizontally. The earth then encased her arm, and he bent a gap in between some of the earth so that she could remove her arm, which was now encased in a half-inch of earth. “There, that should keep your arm safe from more harm.”

Temorane smiled at him. “Thanks, Torren. I was really worried you’d gone a bit off the rails there.”

Torren smiled back. “The only time I’ve gone off the rails was when you were 7 and startled me with a mask that you stole from the production of  _ Love Amongst The Dragons  _ that was in town.”

“Excuse me, startled? I scared you. And you were mad.”

“Startled. And yes, I was”

“Either way, I only did that cause I liked you at the time.” Torren had an amused look on his face. “What’s with your face… I don’t like the way you’re looking at me, stop it!”

“Nothing, I just think it’s funny.” She turned away from him with feigned indignation before they both broke into laughter a few seconds later.

“See Torren? I knew you could still be fun. Why are you all serious now?”

“I have an important duty to protect this world. That’s a pretty big responsibility to have. Sometimes I do miss how I was before I found out about it, but I need to focus on what’s important, which is mastering waterbending.”

Jakkar ran up to where they were sitting, with sticks in his hands. “What’re those for?” Torren asked. 

“To make a splint for Temorane’s wrist, duh.” Torren and Temorane both exchanged looks that suggested that the other one tell Jakkar of the solution they had already found. 

“We discovered Torren can make me a cast with earthbending, so he can probably do that for my wrist too,” she said while holding her earth-encased arm up for Jakkar to see. He dropped the sticks with a disappointed face, but quickly recomposed himself and walked over to watch Torren make a splint for Temorane’s wrist. 

“Well, can I at least use the sticks for something? Like, to make a fire.”

Torren and Temorane both bit back a giggle as Torren, without even looking, raised one hand and created a small flame on the tip of his index finger.

“Oh, right. I forgot.”

**_\---END OF CHAPTER FIVE---_ **


	6. Chapter 6

Ramaako’s absence went largely unnoticed in the Southern Water Tribe. Not many people realized that he wasn’t there, and those that did figured they had probably just missed him. However, upon his return, many questions arose.

“Where were you?”

“Why were you up north?”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Wait, you were gone?”

Ramaako calmly answered all of their questions. “I was visiting an, um,  _ acquaintance _ , in the Fire Nation. I’ll spare you the details.”

Most then backed off from asking questions, but then he made an announcement. “I need to hold a meeting with all of the waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe. Alert the chief.”

He was met by confusion and even indignation from some, that a member with very little authority would dare call for such a meeting. The chief parted through the crowd and calmed them down. “It’s okay, calm down. I’ve known Ramaako for quite some time, and I know that it must be important. Inform all waterbenders here in the Southern Water Tribe that they are being summoned to the Great Hall today after sundown.

Ramaako was sitting in his room when Ja’Ho stood in the doorway. “May I enter?” Ramaako nodded, and Ja’Ho entered and sat down in a chair across the room from Ramaako’s bed. “So,” Ja’Ho began. “Why were you really gone?” 

Ramaako looked perplexed at the question, but remembered to stick to his cover story. “A woman,” he began awkwardly. “From the Fire Nation. I went to meet her. Her name was…” He quickly thought of a name. “Leesah!” he blurted out, cringing in his head as he realized what he had just said. “Leesah was her name.”

Ja’Ho stared at him unimpressed. “Leesah? Really? You should’ve thought of something better beforehand, that’s the dumbest name I’ve ever heard. Besides, you’re not the type who would leave the tribe unannounced for a few days just to see a woman. You’ve never really had a way with women.”

Ramaako sighed, knowing the gig was up. “I met a spirit a few days ago.” He piqued Ja’Ho’s interest, who leaned in to hear more. “It told me it could let me bend an additional element. So I agreed to its conditions… and it delivered.” He then extended his hand to show a small flame on the tip of each of his fingers. “I went to the Fire Nation to train my firebending. But… something feels different. I feel… off, somehow.”

Ja’Ho sat there for a moment in shock. Another element? What implications that had, he had no idea. “I suppose that it would be normal to feel different, after having such an integral part of yourself change so drastically. Can you still waterbend?”

Ramaako raised a stream of water up from the icy floor beneath them, then froze it in the shape of a table. “Still got it. I might actually be better,” he bragged as le leaned on one elbow on the table. “I see. And what is the meeting you called for?”

Ramaako froze, as he figured he’d get a few people to agree with him and then have it spread from there. He also realized that Ja’Ho would most likely end up disagreeing with Ramaako and rallying other waterbenders behind him, potentially meaning Ramaako would be banished from the tribe. Ramaako began moving one arm and a circle, then crossed the other over it in the opposite direction. He brought them together in front of his chest, then extended his right hand to point at Ja’Ho’s forehead. As Ja’Ho began to react, a bolt of yellow lightning extended from the tip of Ramaako’s finger. It struck the center of Ja’Ho’s forehead, shooting him out and against the wall opposite of Ramaako’s dwelling. He walked out to see that the blast had killed Ja’Ho, so he opened a gap in the ice, and pushed Ja’Ho’s corpse inside. He lamented that he had to kill an old friend, but reminded himself that one life was a worthy sacrifice to save an entire nation.

\---

The meeting was called a few hours later, after the sun had set. Ramaako stood in the center of the hall. All of the Southern Water Tribe’s waterbenders stood before him, and only the chief was to his back. He was a nonbender but it was customary to have the chief involved in these sorts of affairs.

“Early this morning, I returned from visiting the Fire Nation. My business there is my own. As I was exploring the town I was visiting, I was amazed to see how differently their society is from ours. Their architecture, customs, and even their food is different from our own, and it was amazing to be engulfed in a setting so different from my typical one. It was truly a one-of-a-kind experience.” Many of the attendees nodded, interested in what he had to say next, while others questioned the purpose of the meeting being called. 

“Now comes the bad part. While I was there, I realized that the Fire Nation is not what it once was. Gone are the days where the first Firelord united the islands into the Fire Nation. The Governor does nothing but sit in his palace all day, while all of the citizens of the Fire Nation do the same. They treat firebending as a form of entertainment, instead of a powerful force of combat. The power they hold is undeserved. The path that the Fire Nation is on leads only to its own destruction. It is up to us to save them from the destruction they are already laying out from themselves. If we are able to stand on top of the Fire Nation and reform it into what it once was, the whole world will benefit. The world cannot exist while weakness is spread throughout it. By saving the Fire Nation, we will be saving the world.”

Immediately, one waterbender spoke up. “We cannot do that, Ramaako. The balance between the four nations is fragile and a hostile attack will send all four into chaos!”

“It is a risk we must take! That fragile balance will be completely destroyed if the Fire Nation is allowed to continue existing in its current state!”

Gradually, more people were beginning to agree with him. “An invasion could lead to a war between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation!”

“If our attack is met with resistance, we may conclude that the Fire Nation is able to pull itself out of its misery alone. However, we will be met with none. There will be no resistance, which is why we must change that. So that it will be able to fight for itself in the face of being attacked again! Better for it to be us with noble intentions instead of another party with intentions of enslaving it! We are offering the Fire Nation mercy. Will we allow our neighbors to destroy the world? No! We will raise them up, and the rest of the world along with it! This is when we receive our call to action! To do something! Let us answer it!”

Now, he had convinced all of the waterbenders to help him on his quest. They were whooping and cheering for what they believed would be a noble conquest.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER SIX---_ **


	7. Chapter 7

Ramaako’s absence went largely unnoticed in the Southern Water Tribe. Not many people realized that he wasn’t there, and those that did figured they had probably just missed him. However, upon his return, many questions arose.

“Where were you?”

“Why were you up north?”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Wait, you were gone?”

Ramaako calmly answered all of their questions. “I was visiting an, um, _acquaintance_ , in the Fire Nation. I’ll spare you the details.”

Most then backed off from asking questions, but then he made an announcement. “I need to hold a meeting with all of the waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe. Alert the chief.”

He was met by confusion and even indignation from some, that a member with very little authority would dare call for such a meeting. The chief parted through the crowd and calmed them down. “It’s okay, calm down. I’ve known Ramaako for quite some time, and I know that it must be important. Inform all waterbenders here in the Southern Water Tribe that they are being summoned to the Great Hall today after sundown.

Ramaako was sitting in his room when Ja’Ho stood in the doorway. “May I enter?” Ramaako nodded, and Ja’Ho entered and sat down in a chair across the room from Ramaako’s bed. “So,” Ja’Ho began. “Why were you really gone?”

Ramaako looked perplexed at the question, but remembered to stick to his cover story. “A woman,” he began awkwardly. “From the Fire Nation. I went to meet her. Her name was…” He quickly thought of a name. “Leesah!” he blurted out, cringing in his head as he realized what he had just said. “Leesah was her name.”

Ja’Ho stared at him unimpressed. “Leesah? Really? You should’ve thought of something better beforehand, that’s the dumbest name I’ve ever heard. Besides, you’re not the type who would leave the tribe unannounced for a few days just to see a woman. You’ve never really had a way with women.”

Ramaako sighed, knowing the gig was up. “I met a spirit a few days ago.” He piqued Ja’Ho’s interest, who leaned in to hear more. “It told me it could let me bend an additional element. So I agreed to its conditions… and it delivered.” He then extended his hand to show a small flame on the tip of each of his fingers. “I went to the Fire Nation to train my firebending. But… something feels different. I feel… off, somehow.”

Ja’Ho sat there for a moment in shock. Another element? What implications that had, he had no idea. “I suppose that it would be normal to feel different, after having such an integral part of yourself change so drastically. Can you still waterbend?”

Ramaako raised a stream of water up from the icy floor beneath them, then froze it in the shape of a table. “Still got it. I might actually be better,” he bragged as le leaned on one elbow on the table. “I see. And what is the meeting you called for?”

Ramaako froze, as he figured he’d get a few people to agree with him and then have it spread from there. He also realized that Ja’Ho would most likely end up disagreeing with Ramaako and rallying other waterbenders behind him, potentially meaning Ramaako would be banished from the tribe. Ramaako began moving one arm and a circle, then crossed the other over it in the opposite direction. He brought them together in front of his chest, then extended his right hand to point at Ja’Ho’s forehead. As Ja’Ho began to react, a bolt of yellow lightning extended from the tip of Ramaako’s finger. It struck the center of Ja’Ho’s forehead, shooting him out and against the wall opposite of Ramaako’s dwelling. He walked out to see that the blast had killed Ja’Ho, so he opened a gap in the ice, and pushed Ja’Ho’s corpse inside. He lamented that he had to kill an old friend, but reminded himself that one life was a worthy sacrifice to save an entire nation.

\---

The meeting was called a few hours later, after the sun had set. Ramaako stood in the center of the hall. All of the Southern Water Tribe’s waterbenders stood before him, and only the chief was to his back. He was a nonbender but it was customary to have the chief involved in these sorts of affairs.

“Early this morning, I returned from visiting the Fire Nation. My business there is my own. As I was exploring the town I was visiting, I was amazed to see how differently their society is from ours. Their architecture, customs, and even their food is different from our own, and it was amazing to be engulfed in a setting so different from my typical one. It was truly a one-of-a-kind experience.” Many of the attendees nodded, interested in what he had to say next, while others questioned the purpose of the meeting being called.

“Now comes the bad part. While I was there, I realized that the Fire Nation is not what it once was. Gone are the days where the first Firelord united the islands into the Fire Nation. The Governor does nothing but sit in his palace all day, while all of the citizens of the Fire Nation do the same. They treat firebending as a form of entertainment, instead of a powerful force of combat. The power they hold is undeserved. The path that the Fire Nation is on leads only to its own destruction. It is up to us to save them from the destruction they are already laying out from themselves. If we are able to stand on top of the Fire Nation and reform it into what it once was, the whole world will benefit. The world cannot exist while weakness is spread throughout it. By saving the Fire Nation, we will be saving the world.”

Immediately, one waterbender spoke up. “We cannot do that, Ramaako. The balance between the four nations is fragile and a hostile attack will send all four into chaos!”

“It is a risk we must take! That fragile balance will be completely destroyed if the Fire Nation is allowed to continue existing in its current state!”

Gradually, more people were beginning to agree with him. “An invasion could lead to a war between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation!”

“If our attack is met with resistance, we may conclude that the Fire Nation is able to pull itself out of its misery alone. However, we will be met with none. There will be no resistance, which is why we must change that. So that it will be able to fight for itself in the face of being attacked again! Better for it to be us with noble intentions instead of another party with intentions of enslaving it! We are offering the Fire Nation mercy. Will we allow our neighbors to destroy the world? No! We will raise them up, and the rest of the world along with it! This is when we receive our call to action! To do something! Let us answer it!”

Now, he had convinced all of the waterbenders to help him on his quest. They were whooping and cheering for what they believed would be a noble conquest.

_**\---END OF CHAPTER SIX---** _


	8. Chapter 8

It took an entire day spent on The Bounty Hunter’s boat before Temorane was able to convince Torren to sleep. The Bounty Hunter rarely slept, and only did so for a few hours at a time, much to Torren’s suspicion. 

Torren woke up late at night, seeing Temorane and Jakkar asleep, and The Bounty Hunter awake, at the back of the boat. Torren was careful not to sit up so that The Bounty Hunter wouldn’t notice that he was awake. He began carefully watching the movements oh his hand on the rudder and realized it was turned to the left, which was taking them North. Torren was immediately suspicious and sat up carefully, to approach The Bounty Hunter. As Torren was getting closer, The Bounty Hunter sighed. “What do you need?” he asked annoyedly. 

“You’re taking us North, I’m not stupid. Who do you work for?”

“You’re assuming I have to be working for someone? I’m avoiding a particularly rough spot near here, so you and your little friends will be safer.”

Torren was still suspicious of his answer, but decided to sit back down. He looked out over the left side of the boat, the black water parting in front of the boat as it went along, then crashing back together behind it. He had nothing to do, so he figured he’d talk to Sumatra to pass the time, but realized it probably wouldn’t be a good idea with a sketchy person so close by. 

All of the sudden, The Bounty Hunter turned and lunged at Torren, which Torren narrowly avoided. He ran through his options: he couldn’t firebend, at risk of burning down the boat. He couldn’t earthbend, since there was no earth to bend. He focused on creating a blast of wind in an attempt to push The Bounty Hunter off the boat, but nothing happened, leaving The Bounty Hunter chuckling in amusement.

His only option was to fight The Bounty Hunter hand-to-hand, a skill in which he had not trained very much. The Bounty Hunter jabbed at Torren with his right hand, hitting him square in the face, causing him to fall back onto the side of the boat. This brought Torren back to his senses, as he raised his right leg to kick him in the stomach. As he extended his leg, The Bounty Hunter reached his arms around either side of his legs, then used it as a lever to flip Torren over onto the ground with a loud thud. Torren groaned from the pain, and tried to get up, but was stopped when The Bounty Hunter placed his foot on Torren’s chest and leaned on it.

“The Ringmaster.”

Torren looked confused, so The Bounty Hunter elaborated. “You asked who I work for. I’m working for The Ringmaster. He put a bounty on your head, and I figured I’d make a little extra charging yo-”

He was cut off by the sound of a rock hitting his head. He fell unconscious on the floor of the boat, and Torren saw Temorane, standing with her left arm raised, blood on her cast, and a horrified look on her face.

Torren was speechless as he stood up. He didn’t think that Temorane was even capable of hurting anyone. “I’m sorry Torren, it’s just that he was attacking you, and I was scared t-”

“Temorane, it’s okay. Thank you. You just saved my life.”

She smiled, but that expression turned to one of shock when the boat started rustling under the waves, and the rudder was moving back and forth. Torren reached over and grabbed it to steady it, but the boat continued moving. “Any chance this kid might know how to sail?” Torren asked, pointing at Jakkar, who was still sleeping like nothing had happened, with his head.

“I doubt it, and it’s probably better to let the kid sleep. He’s probably exhausted by how much you yell at him.

“I do not yell at h- wait… huh… yeah you’re right.”

\---

Two days of Torren’s shaky sailing later, the trio arrived on the coast of the Southern Water Tribe.

“So… what do we do about him?” Jakkar asked, pointing at The Bounty Hunter.

“Um… I guess we leave him there?” They had haphazardly tied his hands together, and tied a rope through his mouth so he couldn’t talk. Temorane was really uncomfortable leaving him there like that, even though the only alternative Torren had offered was outright killing him.

The Bounty Hunter just watched the whole show unfold, as they began packing their things. As they were beginning to leave, Torren felt heat coming from behind him, so he grabbed Jakkar and Temorane, dropping the three of them to the floor. Torren turned and shot a blast of fire back at The Bounty Hunter, who dissipated it in all directions. The three began running, and The Bounty Hunter continued shooting fire at them.

They advanced on the ice, and Torren repeatedly tried using waterbending to separate them from The Bounty Hunter, though he still couldn’t waterbend without having had any proper training. He signaled for Temorane and Jakkar to continue, while he fought The Bounty Hunter. 

The Bounty Hunter spared no time continuing his advance. As he ran, he darted to the right, then swung his left leg over his right, He brought them together in midair, bringing them in before extending them to shoot a large blast of fire at Torren, before landing on his right leg and rolling out.

Torren knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge the attack in time, leaving him to try and block it. He held his hands in front of him, trying to create a barrier of air big enough to dissipate the attack. Some of the flames were deterred, but most broke through his barrier, leaving him to bring his arms in front of his chest as he shot out a small blast that could repel both the fire and himself in opposite directions. The defense worked, though Torren still received some damage on his arms from the risky maneuver.

He was met with quick retaliation as The Bounty Hunter did a cartwheel into a back tuck, shooting fire down at Torren as he exited the flip from all four limbs. Torren focused on creating a single flame on the tip of his pointer finger, then as the fire made contact with it, he shot it out into the surrounding area like a disc. 

He caught The Bounty Hunter’s feet as he was landing, and pulled them apart into a split. The Bounty Hunter grinned as he brought his arms up into an X, lightning visibly forming on both of his forearms. Just as he was about to unleash his powerful attack, Torren ducked under The Bounty Hunter, closing his legs behind him as he had to uncross his arms to stop himself from falling on his face. 

The Bounty Hunter kicked his legs over his back, pushing off his hands and landing on his feet, facing away from Torren. Torren seized his opportunity, and shot a concentrated blast of fire at The Bounty Hunter’s back. He fell to the ground, and Torren sprinted in the other direction before he could get up.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER EIGHT---_ **


	9. Chapter 9

Torren ran in the direction that Jakkar and Temorane had gone, in an attempt to catch up with them as soon as possible. He ran for a couple of minutes, but the wind that indicated an approaching blizzard made their footprints difficult to see.

As the wind began to pick up, he was beginning to have a hard time seeing. He continued forward in the direction he was going, doing his best to try to keep the snow out of his eyes with his bare arms. Temorane had grabbed his bag as she was running with Jakkar, and though it didn’t have any clothing specifically for the kind of weather he was experiencing, he had some food that he would do anything to have at that moment. He tried to remember whether or not he had any wood in his bag, that would allow him to start a fire. That triggered a fond memory of when he and Temorane had laughed along with Jakkar about him trying to suggest a use for his sticks. 

“Well, can I at least use the sticks for something? Like, to make a fire?” 

Torren smiled, knowing nobody was around to see him. He tried not to smile often, for some odd reason, though he had no idea why. The only time he’d smile on purpose was when he was talking with Sumatra, because she was the only one he could truly relate to.

He considered for a quick second talking with her, before remembering that Temorane had the belt he used to meditate and talk to her. He really was alone. 

He didn’t dislike Jakkar. He was still opposed to the idea of him joining them, but he was starting to not mind having him around, especially since it meant Temorane wouldn’t bother him as much. 

The snow was making it really hard to see where he was going, and the footprints he had been trying to follow were completely obscured. He closed his eyes and focused all of his strength into creating a barrier of air to keep the snow out of his face and hair, but no matter how hard he focused on forcing the air in front of him, he could still feel the cold drops dashing across his face.

“Be what fuels and guides the air around you, not what pushes it. If you move it in a way it wants to go, it will work for you.”

He remembered what Sumatra told him about airbending at the Eastern Air Temple, that he had mostly been ignoring up until that moment. He calmed his mind, and let all of his thoughts slip away. All thoughts about finding Temorane and Jakkar, mastering waterbending, reaching the Southern Water Tribe, talking to Sumatra, and even airbending in that moment itself left his mind. All that was there was calmness, and willingness to work with the air around him. 

All of the sudden, he stopped feeling the cold drops of snow on his face. He opened his eyes to see snow bouncing off an invisible barrier of air about a foot away from his hands which were extended in front of him. For a second, he dared let a thought enter his mind. Careful to not force the air, he thought about Temorane and Jakkar.

Where were they? 

Were they okay?

Would he be able to find them?

He began to stress out over these questions, and he felt a few snowflakes hitting his face again. He quickly directed his attention away from the thoughts of his friends, and continued walking through the snow so he could be reunited with them.

\---

Temorane and Jakkar continued running for a long time, not turning back once. They both knew that Torren would be able to handle himself, and that there was nothing they could do to help. 

As the two ran, Jakkar began to fall behind. Temorane took notice, and slowed her pace to match his, though he kept falling behind every time she slowed down. Finally, she stopped, and a second later he did the same. “Jakkar, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“N-Nothing, I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. You need to tell me what’s wrong or we won’t keep going.”

“I’m serious Tem, I’m fine.”

“Did you just call m- hey wait, I kinda like that! But you need to tell me what’s wrong, NOW.”

Jakkar looked down at his feet and started. “My feet are getting kind of cold… But it’s fine! I can keep going!”

Temorane walked over to him to look at his feet, and her stomach dropped as soon as she did.

“Jakkar, why didn’t you say something earlier!?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to b-”

“Jakkar, you can’t try to walk all the way to the Southern Water Tribe with no shoes.”

Jakkar began to speak but was cut off by Temorane before he could even get a word in.

“The wind is starting to pick up, we don’t know how strong it’ll get, so we need to find somewhere we can rest. Here, I’ll carry you the rest of the way.” She extended her hand to Jakkar, but he refused.

“If it’s a short distance, I’ll be fine.”

For the first time since they had met, Temorane was getting mad.

“Jakkar, you can’t keep doing this. You can’t try to do everything yourself. Sooner or later, you’ll need someone to be there for you. You’re not being brave, you’re being stupid. Now here, take my hand. We’re going to make it.”

Jakkar nodded as he grabbed Temorane’s hand, who placed it around her neck, then put one arm around his back and the other behind his knees. She picked him up in both arms, and began walking forward against the strong winds blowing on her face.

\---

Twenty minutes later, Temorane spotted a cave in the ice. She began making her way toward it, relieved that they’d found a place to rest.

Once they were close enough, Temorane set Jakkar down, and then promptly collapsed from carrying the weight of two people through a snowstorm. Jakkar bent down and grabbed her arms, pulling her back up so he could support her so she could make it into the cave.

Once Jakkar had set out Temorane’s sleeping bag for her to rest on, he got to work trying to make a fire. Fortunately, he had stashed the sticks in his bag just in case he’d end up needing them, for which he was beyond thankful. 

He pulled out the sticks and set them up in a pile on the ground, then picked two up and began rubbing them back and forth perpendicular to each other. The sticks began to heat up, but they were a long way from creating a spark.

As Jakkar continued trying to make a fire without success, Temorane was getting worried about Torren. It had been about an hour since they had left him and The Bounty Hunter, and they had seen no sign of him. Temorane considered the possibility that The Bounty Hunter could’ve captured Torren, but quickly shut that idea down. She knew Torren well, and knew he would be able to beat anybody… right? She decided she’d stop thinking about it, and not lose hope that he’d find them.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER NINE---_ **


	10. Chapter 10

“Jakkar, come here. I don’t think that’s going to work.”

Jakkar looked up from the two sticks that he had been rubbing together for the past 10 minutes to look at Temorane. “Don’t worry Tem, I’ve almost got it.”

She smiled hearing her new nickname. She liked it, because why wouldn’t she? It was short, cute, and to her felt like a nickname that only people who other people cared about would receive.

“No, I don’t think you do. You’ve been rubbing those sticks together forever, just come lie down here,” she said, patting Jakkar’s sleeping bag right next to her.

Jakkar obliged, and sat down on his sleeping bag. She turned her body to face him and leaned in towards him. “So,” she began “how did you end up in the circus?”

Jakkar looked down. He hesitated because he wasn’t sure how much of what he knew to be his past was actually true. “I was the result of a teen pregnancy in the outer ring of Ba Sing Se,” he began. “At least that’s what I was told. My parents abandoned me pretty much as soon as I was born, so I was found and brought to an orphanage shortly thereafter, which is where my earliest memories begin.”

Temorane already had a shocked look on her face, hearing about how messed up Jakkar’s early life was. He took note of her expression, and knew he wouldn’t be able to tell her it got better because it didn’t.

“When I was six years old, some older kids discovered the truth about the orphanage. The kids we were told had been adopted were actually being sold as slaves to people in the inner ring. I and eight others ran away from the orphanage and tried to support each other as a group. We’d all go out and do anything we could for money, most of them illegal. We were all somehow involved with drugs, gambling, and things I don’t even want to think about. Yet with all these terrible things we had to do, we still didn’t have enough money to support all of us in the group. We were ripped off and not paid any chance we could be, so after a year, the three defacto-leaders of the group announced that the group was splitting up. Most people went their own ways, though some formed smaller groups.”

Jakkar felt an arm around his back, and he looked to see Temorane sitting to his right, comforting him. He had been so deeply submerged in his memories that he hadn’t noticed her get out of her sleeping bag and sit down next to him. “What did you do?”

“Huh?” he asked.

“You said some people went solo while others formed groups. What did you do?” She had a concerned look on her face, almost as if she was hearing about a different person and his fate was unknown.

“I left the city. The circus was in town around the time when the group broke up, and I was very light on my feet, so I asked to join them. I wasn’t trained in any disciplines, so I didn’t join the show immediately, but the performers took care of me while I traveled with them. For two years, they trained me in different disciplines while they weren’t performing. Then, a few months after I turned nine, I joined the flying trapeze act. Performing in the circus was my entire life for four years… until you and Torren came. After he saved me, and I realized that The Ringmaster was way too similar to the people who ran the orphanage in Ba Sing Se, I knew I couldn’t stay there. Then, after the circus burned down, going with you two was my only option.”

Temorane stared at him with her mouth open in shock. “Jakkar… I had no idea. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay because now I have you and Torren!”

“What are you going to do when Torren finishes mastering waterbending? I’ll probably go back home… but you’ve never really had a home, have you?” 

Jakkar shook his head. “I don’t know what I’ll do. I guess I’ll figure it out when we come to it.”

“You could maybe come live with me, I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind!”

“Thank you, but I don’t know… I don’t want to be a burden on anybody.”

“Oh, that wouldn’t be a problem! My older brother left the village a few years ago, so they’re used to having two children.”

“I’ll think about it. Thanks, Tem.”

“Of course. If you don’t end up coming to live with us, you’ll be welcome to visit any time.”

\---

When Jakkar and Temorane woke up, they realized Torren was sitting against the back wall of the cave. He was awake, but he looked lost in thought.

“Torren?” Temorane called. Without any sign of surprise, he looked over at her.

“Hey.”

“How long have you been there?”

“Oh, a few hours. I found you two asleep in here and figured I wouldn’t wake you up. I’ll give you about ten minutes then we should probably get going.”

Temorane finished packed up her sleeping bag before Jakkar and met Torren outside.

“So, yesterday I realized Jakkar doesn’t have any shoes. What are we supposed to do?”

Torren looked at her with his eyebrows raised in shock. “He walked all the way here with no shoes? Why didn’t he say anything? And how did we not notice?”

“I honestly have no idea. The point is, he can’t walk all the way to the Southern Water Tribe barefoot.”

Jakkar exited the tent and the two turned and looked at him.

“Are we leaving now?” he asked, oblivious to the topic of their conversation.

“Jakkar, you can’t walk the rest of the way barefoot. I’ll give you a hog-monkey-back ride, then once we’re there we can get you some shoes.”

Jakkar looked at Temorane as his brain completely stopped working. “No, that’s fine, you, like, don’t need to do that, I’m totally good, I can walk.”

“First off, no. Second off, what’s with the accent? I’ve never heard you talk like that before.”

“It’s… something that I picked up from all of my travelings. Whenever I’m nervous I talk in a mix of Southeastern and Midwestern Earth Kingdom accents.”

“Nervous? Why are you nervous?”

“I, uh, don’t want you to drop me. It’s a long journey, y’know. We have a few hours of walking ahead of us.”

“If it bothers you that much, I’ll carry you. Let’s just get going,” Torren cut in.

Jakkar nodded, and Torren crouched down to let him hop on his back. Torren and Temorane started walking, and Jakkar was left looking over at Temorane, thinking.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER TEN---_ **


	11. Chapter 11

Three arduous hours of walking later, of which Jakkar was permitted to walk none, the trio still hadn’t arrived at the Southern Water Tribe. 

“I don’t get it, shouldn’t it be visible from really far away? This place’s supposed to be massive,” Temorane asked Torren. 

“I have no idea. I’m pretty sure we’re headed in the right direction, and either way, we should’ve spotted it by now.”

Jakkar began scanning the area for anywhere it could be from his vantage point on Torren’s back. “Hey, I see something over there, it looks like people could live there,” he said pointing at the faint outline of some igloos on the horizon.

“Well, it’s our only lead, so we’ll go there. They might know how to get to the Southern Water Tribe, and they might also have some damn shoes for Jakkar.”

“I keep telling you, I can walk!”

“Jakkar, quit it! You can’t walk all the way there barefoot, so stop suggesting it. We need to get there as quickly as possible.”

“Okay… fine. But as soon as we get there, I need to stop depending on you two to carry me.”

Torren chuckled. “We’re getting you shoes as soon as we can because I’m getting tired of having to carry you everywhere.”

“Torren, stop saying stuff like that! He doesn’t need any motivation to keep asking to walk.”

“Okay, fine. Let’s just go to that settlement Jakkar spotted and ask if anyone knows anything.

\---

The three reached the settlement half an hour later, and they immediately knew something was amiss. Torren set Jakkar down, and the three looked at all of the villagers, who were hard at work building homes out of the snow on the ground. Torren found it weird that a group would be building homes then, considering the inhabitants of the area surrounding the Southern Water Tribe had been established there for a long time, and no new groups had been formed. 

He walked up to one of the villagers to talk to them. “Excuse me, my name is Avatar Torren. We’ve gotten a bit lost, do you know how we can get to the Southern Water Tribe?”

The woman looked at him with an annoyed look on her face. “This _is_ the Southern Water Tribe. Well, this is what’s left of it.”

“No, that can’t be right. I know what it looks like, quit lying. Just tell us how to get there and we’ll leave you all in peace.”

“I’m not lying. Four days ago, a member of our tribe, Ramaako, recruited all of the waterbenders in the Southern Water Tribe to go conquer the Fire Nation. I have no idea how, but as they left, all of our buildings began melting. After a whole day, nothing was left. Since our buildings were made with waterbending, we couldn’t rebuild them, which is why we have to resort to making homes out of the snow while we wait for the waterbenders to come back.”

“Wait, so you mean to tell me there are no waterbenders here? Nobody who can teach me waterbending?”

“That’s right. Every last one of ‘em, gone.”

Torren went back to talk with Jakkar and Temorane. “Did you hear what she said? This is the Southern Water Tribe, and it was destroyed. Worst of all, there are no waterbenders here, making this trip a complete waste.”

The three stared at each other in silence. “So… can I still go try and find some shoes?”

“Yes Jakkar, go get some shoes.”

\---

Torren searched for a quiet place where he could talk to Sumatra but wasn’t able to find a place where someone wasn’t doing something. After checking a couple more times, he decided to just walk a couple of hundred feet away from the tribe in any direction. He sat down, facing the sea of white in front of him, and held the dark blue belt in his hands as he slowed his breathing. He closed his eyes, and after a few seconds of being alone with only the sound of his heartbeat, he opened them to see Sumatra sitting in front of him.

“Alright, what did you mess up now?”

“We ran into a big problem. The Southern Water Tribe was destroyed, some guy named Ramaako is taking over the Fire Nation, which means there are no waterbenders to train me.”

Her face was shocked. “That’s my brother. He was the kind of person to want everything his way… but I can’t believe he would do something like that.”

“So the guy taking over the Fire Nation is your brother? That’s so weird, like where do I even begin? Does that make me related to him? Wait, are you and I related?”

“No, you and I aren’t related, and the more questions you ask yourself about it, there less sense it will make to you. Ramaako was born when I was thirteen years old, so he was three when I found out I was the Avatar and that I’d have to leave to go on my journey. He didn’t remember me from those three years, though he heard lots of stories. I returned when he was five, once he started to develop a personality. I could’ve sworn my parents switched him out with some other child in the two years I was gone because he was nothing like when he was a baby. He had absolutely no sense of humor and was already training intensely in waterbending. I wasn’t able to interact with him much, as I had a lot of things to take care of as the Avatar. He is incredibly skilled in waterbending, and you’re going to have to stop him. I don’t know why he’s doing it, but if he succeeds, it will disrupt the balance of the four nations and would have massive consequences.”

“Wow, it must be rough to see your brother doing all this terrible stuff, I’m really sorry. But if I’m going to stop him, I need to be able to waterbend. If I can’t I won’t stand a chance.”

“I am completely aware, and I already have a plan for that.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I do. For it to make sense, I need to tell you what happened the night that I died.”

**_\---END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN---_ **


	12. Chapter 12

“Wow, it must be rough to see your brother doing all this terrible stuff, I’m really sorry. But if I’m going to stop him, I need to be able to waterbend. If I can’t I won’t stand a chance.”

“I am completely aware, and I already have a plan for that.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I do. For it to make sense, I need to tell you what happened the night that I died.”

Torren sat in silence for a few seconds. He had never really thought about how she had died. He figured she probably just got old, then one day she had a heart attack, and then he was born. Nevermind the fact that it would make no sense considering her appearance was that of a 23-year-old woman, but again, he never thought about it much.

“So... what did happen the night you died?

“It was just after Ba Sing Se’s walls had been built and announced to the rest of the Earth Kingdom. There’s a reason you’re the exact same age as the walls, and this is why. There was rioting all over the Earth Kingdom, but it was particularly bad in your hometown of Kasema. I went there to try to help calm the rioting, but it got out of hand. In a house that had been broken into, I found a pregnant woman who had been injured. That woman ended up being your mother. Her arm was in really bad shape, so I gave her my belt to use as a sling.”

Torren looked down at the belt he was holding in his hands.

“Yes, that was my belt, and that’s why you have it. Even beyond that, we share a deeper connection. I healed her using waterbending, which means you and I have made physical contact before. You weren’t born yet, but two Avatars making physical contact should be impossible. When you are still in developing into a fully formed human being, you are also taking in every bit of stimulation that comes your way. Because of this, my ‘interference’ connected us in a way that no other Avatars have been.” 

“Yeah, I understand how cool that is, but what does this have to do with me learning to waterbend?”

“Ah yes, I almost forgot about how you can never appreciate how cool anything is. What we need to do so that you can learn waterbending isn’t anything that’s been done before, it’s more of a theory using multiple different concepts that should work as a 'ritual'. It isn’t possible without the connection we share, so it hasn’t been done before. What the result of this 'ritual' should be is that I will be able to draw from some of your power and it will open a partial window to the Spirit World in which you’ll be able to fully see me without meditating. From there, even though I won’t be able to bend, I can still show you how to waterbend.”

“This seems needlessly complicated, why can’t I just meditate and you can show me?”

“Meditation is a very fragile thing. You are bringing me into the physical world partially, which requires a massive amount of power to be focused on it and means there’s very little you can do in addition to it. If we perform this 'ritual', theoretically speaking, you’ll be able to see me permanently while using a lot less of your power. You’ll be able to move around and even bend while I’m still visible.”

“Okay, that makes sense. What exactly does this ‘ritual’ entail?”

“This is a big one. It will take a lot of time, but if you’re going to stop Ramaako, you need to learn to waterbend and this is the only way. You need to travel all the way to your hometown of Kasema, on the day of a Solstice. The Winter Solstice is a little over a week from now, so it’s perfect timing, actually. From there, you need to go to the spot where I was killed. It’s in t-”

“Wait, how exactly were you killed? I know it had something to do with the riot, but that’s pretty arbitrary.”

“It... was a very well-thrown rock,” she mumbled.

“A what?”

“It was a very well thrown rock! As I was trying to calm the situation, they were throwing things at me. Lots of nonbenders threw whatever they could find, like cups and wheels from nearby food stands. Those were extremely easy to just redirect around me with a light gust of air. However, the rocks being thrown by the earthbenders required more attention. I was standing on top of a platform, out of reach from the rioters as I was using airbending to carry my voice as I spoke. But, some very angry earthbender realized a flaw in my defense. I was mostly focused on my head, which is where most of the attacks were directed. They threw an arrow-shaped rock at my solar plexus, which hit its target directly. As is for most people, it worked as an off-switch. I keeled over from the impact, and lost my balance.”

Torren wasn’t sure how to react. It seemed absurd to go out by losing one’s balance, but then he realized how stressful it must’ve been in the moment.

“I didn’t die of falling a couple of feet, Torren. What came after was what killed me. I fell off the platform into the crowd, where the rioters at the front of the group had spread out so that I would fall onto the ground. I didn’t have any time to react… I was immediately being kicked and stomped on from all directions, and I could do nothing to stop it. I’ll tell you… the moments before your death where you know it’s all over… it’s scary. After a good twenty seconds of feeling nothing but pain from all directions, I felt my spirit leaving my body. I looked down on the scene from above, as the rioters kicked my lifeless body, not knowing if I was dead yet, but with no intention of stopping until they were sure I was.”

Torren stared at her with his mouth wide open in shock. “Sumatra, I don’t even know where to begin… I’m so sorry. I never imagined that something so horrible would’ve happened to you… and I’m sorry you had to relive it just now.” He moved closer and tried to hug her, though they were unable to make contact. He mimed the action of hugging her around her spirit, and she did the same. They stayed there for a good while, as Torren contemplated the reality of the circumstances of his birth.

****

**_\---END OF CHAPTER TWELVE---_ **


	13. Chapter 13

They spent a minute in silence before Torren broke it. “How are we even supposed to get to Kasema? I need to be there within a week for the Solstice, and the journey alone would take weeks.”

“That’s why you won’t be walking. If you go to the Southern Air Temple, someone should be able to give you a ride by Sky Bison to Kasema. They don’t interact much with outsiders, but the Avatar would of course be an exception.”

“So I have to go to the Southern Air Temple and just… ask?”

“I guess. I don’t know any airbenders from the Southern Air Temple, so you’ll have to ask the monks in charge if there’s anyone who can take you. Once they find someone, you’ll be able to get to Kasema easily within a week traveling by Sky Bison. Your friends are most likely ready to leave by now, so I’ll let you go.”

“We’ll be sure to make sure everything works out. Thanks for always being prepared to help me with whatever problem arises.”

“As I’ve said multiple times, it’s not like I have a choice. Bye Torren!”

“We’ll talk again soon, goodbye.”

\---

Three days later, Torren, Temorane, and Jakkar woke up to the sound of footsteps running towards the door of the dwelling they were staying in at the Southern Air Temple. A man was running at them, with his eyes fixated on Torren. He wore a dark gray scarf around his head and neck, and his chest was bare. The scarf connected to two sleeves that led into metal vambraces on his wrists, both with a slab of earth on them. He had black pants with a dark gray belt and metal plating over dark brown boots, which had a large curved spike on the top of both. 

Torren didn’t recognize the outfit, but his face was recognizable instantly, as was the strand of dark purple hair coming down from underneath the scarf in front of his face. Torren sighed as he prepared himself to fight with The Ringmaster again.

Torren spared no time in attacking before The Ringmaster would be able to. He shot two blasts of fire from his hands as he spun into a jump and kicked another blast at The Ringmaster. The Ringmaster was unfazed as he raised two walls that blocked the shots. He dashed at Torren, bending the earth beneath his feet to push him forward. Torren prepared to lift rocks and throw them at him, but The Ringmaster sped up and ran past Torren.

As Torren realized what happened, he turned to look at The Ringmaster in confusion. He then saw a sharp blade of earth that was formed from the earth on one of The Ringmaster’s metal vambraces, coated in blood. Torren then felt the impact from the pain of the cut he had been dealt on his right cheek. He touched some of the blood spilling out of the wound and flicked it onto the ground.

The Ringmaster then tucked two fingers into the fold in his belt and pulled out two knives, both with a hilt lined with earth. He threw them at an immense speed, and Torren barely had time to process what was happening before he had to dodge to not get hit. He ignited two flames on the palms of his hands, which grew as he ran towards The Ringmaster. His hands met in front of his face as he pushed them out at The Ringmaster, shooting a large stream of fire directly at his chest. The Ringmaster raised a wall between the flame and himself, though the force from the blast sent him flying back. The Ringmaster was able to create a divot in the ground and grab hold to not continue falling and pulled himself back to the ground. 

Torren continued running at The Ringmaster and was suddenly stabbed in both shoulders by the two knives The Ringmaster had thrown earlier, who had manipulated the earth on the hilts to force them on to their target. Torren fell to the ground from the pain and transferred the force from his fall into the ground as he softened it to keep his wrists from being injured. Torren swept his right leg in a circle as he sent an arc of fire in The Ringmaster’s direction. He continued the sweep in a circle as he stood up and jumped. He brought all four of his limbs together to unleash a powerful blast of fire at The Ringmaster. 

The Ringmaster raised a large platform of earth beneath his feet in an attempt to push himself above the line of fire. He managed to avoid it, but Torren had rolled out of his attack and now had a direct shot at The Ringmaster. He shot three concentrated shots of fire from his fingertips, and all The Ringmaster was able to do was put his hands up to try to block them. 

The shots connected in the center of his bare chest and he fell, barely catching himself from hitting his head against the ground.

Torren walked over menacingly and grabbed him by the headscarf. It started to unravel, revealing The Ringmasters long, dark purple hair, but stopped when it reached the sleeves. Torren yanked him back and held three fingers with flames on the tips close to The Ringmaster’s face.

“How did you know where we were?”

The Ringmaster looked unfazed, almost bored. “I have a contact within the Air Nomads. He tipped me off.”

“And who is this mysterious benefactor, oh wise one?” Torren said mockingly.

“Like hell I’d tell you.”

A moment of hesitation from The Ringmaster gave Torren the time to realize two more people watching from above the dwelling where he, Temorane, and Jakkar had slept. He saw the latter two staring out in shock, and he gestured to them to leave.

Torren flung The Ringmaster to the side and fully faced the two others as they jumped down from on top of the dwelling. One he recognized as The Bounty Hunter, and the other had a short orange chestplate with the symbol of the element of air engraved on it, light yellow traditional Air Nomad pants, which were wrapped in brown cloth from the knee to the ankle, and connected to brown sandals. On his head, he wore a rectangular yellow piece of cloth tied together with a headband, and his airbender tattoos were visible on his head and arms.

Torren was able to extrapolate what his third foe’s appearance meant and grunted in frustration. “So you must be The Airbender your friend over here told me about.”

**_\---END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN---_ **


	14. Chapter 14

Torren carefully examined his surroundings. In front of him to his left was The Bounty Hunter, and in front of him to his right was The Airbender. The Ringmaster wasn’t in his field of vision, but he knew he was somewhere behind him to his right. He dug his left foot into the ground in The Bounty Hunter’s direction. A slab of earth rose up from the ground aiming at The Bounty Hunter’s chin, but he was able to react fast enough to get out of the way. The Airbender, who had been taking drawn out and extended breaths, decided that was the optimal time to strike. He opened his mouth and from it shot out a large gust of air. The air formed a sphere around Torren, with ‘folds’ of air along the edges.

Torren began clutching his chest in pain and fell to the ground, violently inhaling and exhaling. He shut his eyes, and every so often opened them for a split second, only to close them again.

“This is what I call ‘One Hundred Percent Oxygen,’” spoke The Airbender. “Every day, the air that we breathe is only about twenty-one percent oxygen. However, I discovered that if I manipulate the air around a certain area, I can focus all of the oxygen into one spot. Breathing 'One Hundred Percent Oxygen' is very dangerous to humans, though it would need to be inhaled for two days straight for it to have a noticeable impact. Fortunately, I also found a technique I can use in conjunction with my skill of ‘One Hundred Percent Oxygen.’ By decreasing the amount of air around you, ‘One Hundred Percent Oxygen’s effects take effect much faster since you need to inhale air more frequently due to the reduced pressure. ‘One Hundred Percent Oxygen’ will kill you in about eight minutes, but I get impatient sometimes.”

Torren began trying to fling rocks at The Airbender, but the ‘folds’ in the air infinitely divided the rocks in a loop, resulting in them no longer even being visible. “Since I don’t want to wait eight minutes for you to die, I will tell you about another one of ‘One Hundred Percent Oxygen’s abilities. Since fire is usually fueled by our normal twenty-one percent oxygen, it can only burn so strong. But when it is mixed with ‘One Hundred Percent Oxygen,’ it results in an explosion that would leave you dead the instant the two mix.”

He gestured at The Bounty Hunter to fire, who began preparing flames on the tips of his fingers as he traced the shape of the sphere Torren was caught in with his hands. He placed his hands together facing Torren and brought them in towards his chest. As he pushed forward, the flames on each of his fingertips extended and they all swirled together in the center. 

As the fire was approaching the sphere of ‘One Hundred Percent Oxygen,’ a figure dropped onto the sphere, standing on it as if it were solid. He dispersed the sphere, sending ‘One Hundred Percent Oxygen’ into the fire shooting from The Bounty Hunter’s hands as he landed in front of Torren. He grabbed Torren’s arms and flung him over his shoulder as he began rising back up into the air. 

The Bounty Hunter saw the explosion as it was coming towards him and raised his hands to bend the fire away from him. Very little managed to reach him, but the force from the explosion sent him flying backward.

\---

The one who saved Torren touched his feet down on a Sky Bison who had apparently been floating above them and collapsed after setting Torren down on the saddle. Torren looked at the man who had saved him. He was bald with airbender tattoos on his head and a long black beard. He wore traditional red and yellow Air Nomad elder attire, with a necklace of spheres bearing the symbol of the element of air.

“Thank you for saving me, I was in a rough spot there.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

Torren turned to see Temorane and Jakkar sitting behind him casually. He stared daggers at Temorane and she quickly tried to cover up what she had said.

“But I’m so glad you’re okay Torren! We were so worried!”

“Yeah, I was too. I thought I was dead. Anyway, who’s this?”

The man struggled to sit up to respond. “I… apologize. That little ascending maneuver I pulled off back there really drained my stamina. If you two could do the introductions… I’d appreciate it.” He collapsed again after finishing his sentence.

“This is Monk Shyazato,” Temorane said before Jakkar could get a word in. “We found him shortly after you told us to leave the place we spent the night in because you were fighting the guy who took us across the gap to the Southern Water Tribe and some other guy who was really laying it on you hard-” Torren interjected to remind her that that wasn’t a correct usage of the phrase ‘laying it on hard.’ “-and he told us that he was the one who had been assigned to take us to Kasema so you can do your thing with Sumatra and learn waterbending and then defeat the guy who’s trying to take over the Fire Nation and then Jakkar can live with my family and me in Kasema and then you can visit us when you’re not doing your Avatar stuff!”

Torren waited for a few seconds to make sure she was done talking. “Okay, most of what you just told me I already know.” He realized this would be the perfect opportunity to really start his ‘Be Nice To Jakkar’ campaign. “Jakkar, can you explain what happened?”

“I mean, Tem pretty much explained at the beginning. After you told us to leave, we found him and Mooshay-” he patted the saddle to indicate he was talking about the Sky Bison “-and then he asked where you were, we pointed down at where you were, then he went to save you.”

Torren decided to not question Temorne’s new nickname and decided that was enough explanation for him, and he’d talk to Shyazato once he had rested.

\---

Yuto walked over to a tent and knocked on the slab of wood that had been attached for that purpose. “General Ramaako? We have news for you.”

Ramaako’s voice answered back from inside the tent. “Come in, I will hear it.”

Yuto entered the tent to see Ramaako calmly sitting in a chair, the only thing in his room other than the blanket he slept on. “We have just received word that the Avatar has knowledge of our objectives and intends to stop us.”

“Where is he now?”

“He is headed to the Earth Kingdom village of Kasema. We know he intends to master waterbending there, though we do not know how.”

Ramaako rose from his chair and exited his tent, so Yuto followed him out. “He will only get stronger the longer we leave him. We will postpone the attack on the capital until I have dealt with him. Prepare a boat for me,” Ramaako said to his second-in-command.

“Yes, sir,” Yuto said as he left Ramaako alone looking over the capital of the Fire Nation, the only part of it not yet under his control.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER FOURTEEN---_ **


	15. Chapter 15

After a few hours of resting, Shyazato was ready to formally introduce himself to Torren. “It is very nice to meet you, Avatar Torren. I am Monk Shyazato, and I’ll be taking you to the Earth Kingdom village of Kasema. While we are not able to do anything about the firebender and the earthbender that attacked you, The Airbender has been identified and will be exiled from the Air Nomads.”

“Really, that’s all you can do? You’re just going to let him get away after he tried to kill me?”

“As you may recall, I have been here for the past few hours so I had no word in the decision that was made regarding The Airbender, though I stand by their decision. There was nothing we could do about the other two as that is an affair outside of the Air Nomads, and as for The Airbender, and execution is not a punishment we believe in.”

“See, that’s what you Air Nomads need to learn. You can’t just keep everything inside your little bubble without getting involved with other nations. There’s a balance for a reason, and you always watching from the outside is going to disrupt it. The Air Nomads are practically useless to the rest of the world at this point.”

“We have chosen to detach ourselves from the other nations and that is our choice to make, not yours. Getting involved in the affairs of other nations would impede us from maintaining our spirituality.”

“Ah yes, that magical spirituality that you people love so much. What does it even mean? Is it some self-esteem thing? You feel like you’re better than everyone else because you are recluses from the rest of society and force everyone to have their heads? What is that even for? So the magical fingers of spirituality can massage your heads better?”

“Right now, you are here because I am letting you. I will not have you disrespect my culture as I am leaving my home to help you save a nation that isn’t even your own.”

“Okay look, I’m the Avatar. I’m from the Earth Kingdom, but I am supposed to protect every nation, even you useless Air Nomads. But I understand and appreciate you taking us to Kasema because I don’t know what we would’ve done without you. I apologize.”

“Thank you for your apology Avatar Torren, I take pride in my culture and can get angry when outsiders misunderstand it.”

“Anyway, tell me about your parents. How were they?”

“You mean my guardian, correct?”

“No, your parents. Biological mother and father and whatnot.”

“I’m sorry Avatar Torren, but you are mistaken. We Air Nomads don’t know of our parents, as we are assigned a guardian to raise us at birth.”

Torren, who was already well aware of this, faked surprise. “No, really!? That must be weird, not knowing the two people responsible for your birth. Do you ever wonder what they must look like? Just kinda take half of your features then slap it on someone else, th-”

“Torren, stop it!” Temorane interrupted Torren. “You know how airbender philosophy works, so quit trying to provoke Monk Shyazato.” She turned to face Shyazato. “I’m sorry, he gets irritable when he talks about airbenders.”

“I completely understand, airbender culture can be very hard to comprehend for those who aren’t able to quite grasp the deep ideologies that comprise our lifestyle, as they believe so deeply that their way of living is the only and correct way to…”

Torren was done hearing Shyazato’s monk-isms, and he was pretty sure he was speaking so pretentiously just to irritate him. He walked to the back of the saddle which was quite long, so he was out of earshot from the rest of the group.

\---

Torren reached behind his back to grab Sumatra’s belt which he now kept with him at all times, wrapped around his own belt above his waist. He stroked its finely woven threads and thought about how at that moment, he was in a way physically touching Sumatra. He pondered this for a few seconds before he remembered what he was doing, and focused on keeping the pattern of his breathing consistent throughout every breath he took. Eventually, he felt a presence appear in front of him and he opened his eyes to see Sumatra again.

“Torren, what was that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like that, you’re usually a lot more serious, even talking with me.”

“I’m sorry, I really don’t know. I always knew I disliked the Air Nomads, but not that much… I wasn’t thinking, words just kind of continued flowing from my mouth. I didn’t feel like myself… or maybe that was myself and I’ve been someone else for most of my life?”

“Torren, quit it. You got mad, which is okay. We all get mad sometimes. I personally don’t share your dislike for the Air Nomads, but I understand why you dislike them so much. They are almost the direct opposite of your personality, so it makes sense you don’t get along with them. However, you need to not speak out as much, be-”

“Yeah I know, I’m really sorry, I won’t do that again.”

“It’s okay, you can always vent to me. I do have a story of my experience with airbenders though if you’re bored enough to hear it.”

“I have plenty of time, let’s hear it.”

Sumatra leaned back and cracked her knuckles like she was preparing for something very important. “So you may or may not know this, but the Avatar before me was named Avatar Warudo, and he was an airbender.” Torren nodded, as he had heard the name before. “Now Avatar Warudo was the most by-the-books airbender you’ll ever meet, even more than Monk Shyazato. When I talked to him, it almost always ended up being a two-hour lecture about everything I was doing wrong as Avatar. Take this one time for instance, where I asked him about an airbending technique, the air sword. I explained to him what I was trying and what wasn’t working, but he then tried telling me that my entire approach to airbending was wrong and that I needed to relearn it. So because of that, I didn’t talk to him very often unless it was very urgent.”

Torren smiled at the image in his head of Avatar Warudo standing over Sumatra as he aggressively lectured her about airbending. The image then shifted into a man in Earth Kingdom attire standing over her as she laid there on the floor. More men appeared, blocking Torren’s view, but he could tell what they were doing. Through their legs, he could see Sumatra’s body, all bruised from how hard the men were kicking her. He tried to get up and run towards her, but she kept getting farther and farther away. As she was disappearing from his sight, he could see her reaching for him desperately, calling out for his help. He continued running as fast as he could, but he tripped and fell. He fell through the ground into a black void of nothingness, and he shut his eyes, afraid to open them. When he was finally brave enough, he wasn’t able to see immediately, as tears were covering his eyes. As he finally opened them all the way, Sumatra was sitting closer to him, with a concerned look on her face. 

“Torren, are you okay!? What happened?”

Torren smiled at the sight of her being okay, even if she was dead. The important part was that she was still there, right?

“I don’t know, I was lost in thought. While I was there, I realized something.”

“What is it?”

“I never thanked you for saving my life. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here right now. Thank you.”

Sumatra turned away briefly before looking back at Torren. “Well, I also benefit from it. There are a lot of annoying kids in the Earth Kingdom, so I really lucked out in getting to guide you and not the next Avatar Warudo.”

Torren smiled, acknowledging that she was right. “You can never take anything seriously, can you? I mean, I just thanked you for saving my life and your first reaction is to make a joke about how much worse I could’ve been?”

“Okay, fine. You’re welcome Torren for saving your life. Happy?”

Torren conceded the fact that she would never take anything seriously, and that as she said that she was mocking him. “Yes, I’m happy now. You are now free to go.”

“Thank goodness, I was really getting bored there.”

“Yeah, I figured you probably were.”

As he closed and reopened his eyes, he wondered if she was really joking with her closing remarks or she did genuinely get bored whenever they talked. Whichever it was, he still enjoyed her company.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN---_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, we are now officially halfway through!


	16. Chapter 16

Torren, Temorane, Jakkar, and Shyazato arrived in the Earth Kingdom village of Kasema three days later, one day before the winter solstice. Mooshay landed a quarter of a mile away from town so that they wouldn’t cause any confusion. As the four were walking, Jakkar leaned over to Temorane and said, “We were here about a month ago, if I remember correctly. I didn’t get a lot of time to go out and explore the town, but it will probably at least be familiar to me.”

“It must’ve been once I left to go find Torren because I don’t remember, but that’s interesting. My parents might remember you if they went to see the show!” Jakkar nodded, and Temorane continued. “That might make it easier to convince them to let you come live with us after Torren finishes mastering waterbending.”

Jakkar looked uncomfortable again and decided to tell Temorane what he had been thinking about. “I’m sorry Tem, I’ve decided I can’t go live with you and your family. Even if they’re fine with it, I’d always feel like a burden. I haven’t depended on anyone in a long time, so I’d always feel out of place. I really appreciate the offer though, thank you.”

Temorane looked at the ground. “Jakkar, you’re going to need somewhere to go. What are you going to do?”

“I think I might travel a bit. I can work every time I get to a town, and stock up on food to last me until I get to the next.”

“Jakkar, you and I both know that’s not very realistic. You need a safe plan.”

“That’s what I’m going with for now, at least until I can think of something better. Torren still hasn’t mastered waterbending, so I have plenty of time to think.”

“Okay, fine. But you’re going to need to tell me what you’re going to do before you leave us, or I won’t be able to stop worrying about you.”

Jakkar turned his face away from Temorane so that she couldn’t see his expression. “I appreciate how much you cane about me, but sometimes you need to trust me. I’ll figure something out, I promise.”

\---

The four arrived in town shortly thereafter, and Temorane immediately grabbed Torren’s arm and the two started running towards his old house. Jakkar, seeing the two run off together, decided to stay back with Shyazato and not disturb them.

Temorane and Torren went to his house and Temorane knocked excitedly on Torren’s door. She heard a woman yell “Coming!” from inside, and she quickly hid Torren next to the door. A woman who looked like she was in her late thirties opened the door, which now blocked Torren from view. She wore a dark green yukata with brown leaves printed on and her dark brown hair was up in a bun with two strands of hair coming down from either side. Her face lit up when she saw that Temorane was the one who had come to her house. “Temorane, how are you! We’ve all missed you! Why aren’t you with Torren? Is he okay?”

Temorane smiled. “Yes Ms. Kiryu, he’s alright. Actually, I have a surprise for you.” Temorane reached her arm behind the door and pulled Torren out from behind by the wrist.

“Torren!?” she said in shock. “Oh my goodness, I’ve missed you so much. How have you been? How is your training going? Have you finished it? Tell me all about it!” She hugged Torren, who pushed her away after a few seconds.

“No Mom, I haven’t finished. We’re back here because… Well, it’s a long story. I’ve been doing well, we haven’t had any issues on the journey.” He chose to leave out the kidnapping, the numerous attacks, getting lost, and the new member of their party they picked up along the way so that it wouldn’t worry her.

“That’s good to hear! Come on in and you can tell me all about it.”

“Actually, there’s someone we need you to meet.” Torren’s mother raised her eyebrows, excited to meet whoever it was Temorane wanted to introduce her to. “Alright, now where is he…” Temorane hopped off the front porch to go in search of Jakkar.

“Torren, why don’t you come on in? Your father will be glad to see you.”

Torren nodded and entered his house. It hadn’t changed much since he left, other than the fact that there were a lot more paintings of him and his whole family hung up around the house. “Sanju, come here! Torren’s home!”

A man with short black hair who was in his early forties came around the corner, wearing a dark brown sleeveless gi and pants. “Torren, you’re back! How was your training?”

“Actually, it’s not done yet. I guess this is as good a time as any to explain why I’m here.” The three of them sat down in the living room as Torren thought of where to begin his story. 

“The whole reason I’m here has to do with completing my training. There is a man from the Southern Water Tribe who is trying to take over the Fire Nation, and I need to stop him because that’s what I have to do as the Avatar. But, I’m going to have to master waterbending if I’m going to have a chance at stopping him. He recruited all of the waterbenders in the Southern Water Tribe to help him take over the Fire Nation, meaning there was nobody to train me when I got to the Southern Water Tribe. Avatar Sumatra told me about how since she saved my life during the riots, we share a connection and I need to perform some sort of ritual so that she can teach me waterbending, but I have to do it here. So then, we went to the Southern Air Temple and an airbender monk took us here by Sky Bison.”

Torren’s parents didn’t know how to react to his news. “Torren, that’s extremely dangerous, you need to let someone else handle that. You’re still too young to have that much of a responsibility.”

“Mom, I’m the Avatar, it’s my duty to do this. Besides, I’m seventeen, it’s not like I’m some little kid.”

Both of his parents hesitated. “Okay Torren, we understand. You can stay here tonight. Temorane mentioned someone else, how many did you come here with?”

“Well, there’s me, Temorane, a kid we met at the circus named Jakkar, and the airbender who took us here, whose name is Monk Shyazato.”

“Then you can sleep in your room, the monk can sleep in the guest room, and Temorane and the boy can sleep here in the living room.”

\---

Eight hours later, everyone in the house but Jakkar was asleep. He was wide awake, staring at the ceiling. He looked over at Temorane, who was sleeping just fine. It was the first time in ages he had slept in an actual house, even if he was in a sleeping bag on the floor. He got up out of his sleeping bag and looked down at the clothes Torren’s parents had given him, which used to be Torren’s. Though he couldn’t make out the colors because it was dark, he could see in his mind the dark green short-sleeved gi with a dark brown collar and dark brown pants.

He scooted over to Temorane and tapped her lightly to wake her up. “Jakkar, what are you doing?” She said, still mostly asleep.

“I can’t sleep, I’m going for a walk. Can you come with me?”

“Jakkar, it’s the middle of the night… Sure, I’ll come with you.” She got up out of her sleeping bag and grabbed her coat from her bag. She passed Jakkar his and they quietly head out the front door.

The streets were dimly lit by torches as they strolled past the houses, the new moon doing little to add to the light. They walked in silence for a bit, and Temorane grabbed Jakkar’s hand as they walked.

“Temorane, I need to tell you something.”

She turned to face him. “Hm?”

“When I was living in Ba Sing Se, there was a girl I was particularly close with, her name was Kanea. We spent a lot of time together… and eventually we developed feelings for each other. I knew she was waiting for me to do something about it, but I never did. I was too shy, and eventually, I left to travel with the circus. You remind me a lot of her… And I’ve changed a lot, thanks to you and Torren. I’m glad I decided to travel with you two, because, well, I really like you, Tem.”

She looked at him, shocked. “Jakkar, what do you mean? You mean… you  _ like  _ like me?”

They both looked at the ground and continued walking as Jakkar desperately wished that they weren’t holding hands. “Yeah, I’m sorry if I made things awkwar-”

“No Jakkar, it’s okay, I just need some time to think, this is new to me, and I don’t know h-”

“No, I’m really sorry for putting you on the spot like this. I think we both need some time to think, and we can meet back up at the house later.” 

Jakkar started jogging ahead of Temorane, who tried to chase after him. She eventually followed him to the center of town, which split down four different streets. She hadn’t seen which way he had gone, so she decided to just pick one direction and then loop back to the house, and just hope she happened to find Jakkar along the way.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER SIXTEEN---_ **


	17. Chapter 17

Temorane woke up early that morning and immediately looked over at Jakkar’s sleeping bag to see if he had returned while she was asleep. She stood up and walked around the house quietly, and confirmed her suspicion that Jakkar hadn’t returned. She couldn’t help but feel responsible for his disappearance, considering it was right after he had confessed his feelings to her. 

She walked outside, the air of the fresh winter morning filling her lungs as light began to shine through some mountains to the east. She strolled down the mostly empty streets, past her house towards the town square. She had visited her parents the night before, but they had let her stay at Torren’s house so their party could stay in one place, though they had sent some food over with her to contribute to the dinner Torren’s parents were making. 

As she walked down the streets, she still found no sign of Jakkar. Eventually, she figured the others would probably be awake and she could ask for their help.

Torren opened the door after she knocked, looking relieved to see her. “Oh, there you are, we were wondering where y- wait, where’s Jakkar? Why isn’t he with you?”

“I don’t know, I went out to look for him. Las-”

Torren didn’t let her finish, as he was already heading back inside to grab his jacket so he could help her look.

Torren and Temorane walked around together, checking in the few alleys that existed in the town to find him. They figured he wouldn’t have gone far, though it wasn’t out of the question since there was no reason for him to leave in the first place (according to what Temorane had told him.)

Eventually, Temorane decided she should probably tell Torren why Jakkar probably left. “So, Torren… You know how I said there was no reason for Jakkar to leave?”

Torren turned and looked at her confusedly. “Um, yeah?”

“Well, I might know why he’s gone. Last night, we went on a walk, and he told me that he had feelings for me, but then he ran away. I’m really, really sorry. I tried looking for him, but I couldn’t find him. I figured he would’ve come back in the morning.”

Torren sighed, wanting to be mad but realizing there was nothing she could’ve done. “Yeah, it’s okay. We can look for him later, but for now, we should make sure my parents don’t think three of us are missing.”

Temorane took that as Torren making a joke, though from the way he said it, it clearly wasn’t.

\---

Twelve hours later, the Sun was just setting. During the day, Torren had talked to Sumatra about how exactly the ritual worked, so he was now just waiting for the time to be right. Once he confirmed that the Sun had completely set, he gathered what he was instructed to bring for the ritual. 

Torren walked outside, feeling a little awkward with a bag full of seemingly random things, even if there was a festival for the Solstice in the market leaving the area empty. He walked up to the center of the town square and set his bag down. He opened it up and took out a bowl, filled it with a handful of dirt, and placed Sumatra’s belt inside. 

He then poured a can that was filled with water into the bowl with the dirt and then tore off a large piece of his gi, exactly where he had been instructed to by Sumatra. He placed it on top of the bowl, covering the top of it. Torren walked over to the raised center of the town square as he realized that he was standing where Sumatra had died nineteen years before. Reminding himself why he was there, he hopped up and sat down with his legs crossed on top of it, holding the bowl in his hands in his lap.

Torren had finished preparing everything, and now he had to perform the actual ritual. He began by focusing his breathing and calming down his body, as he would any time he was contacting Sumatra. But instead of opening his eyes, he continued in his calm state of limbo of sorts.

He then focused some of the energy on his thumbs and felt them getting hotter. He then did the same with his index fingers, working his way down his hand until all of his fingertips were burning. He could feel the rest of the bowl also heating up, and felt a small amount of steam coming up through the piece of his gi he had covering the top of the bowl. He continued with the bowl in his hands for a minute until he could feel that something had happened.

He set the bowl down and removed the cover from the top. White steam emanated from the bowl, which turned into a large mass of white surrounding Torren. He was unable to see anything other than the white steam right in front of his eyes.

Then, all at once, the steam started to glow a blinding shade of white. Torren squinted his eyes and was able to see the steam gravitating towards a specific point in front of him. He continued watching in awe as it spread out again in a vaguely humanoid shape. As the steam started to clear, Torren saw a woman standing in its place. He recognized her, as he had seen her many times before, only this time she was clearer, and she appeared more solid. 

Torren jumped down from the raised section where he was sitting and ran over to greet Sumatra, who was finally able to manifest permanently in the physical world.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN---_ **


	18. Chapter 18

Torren hopped off of the platform and ran towards Sumatra. It was then when he realized that she was quite tall. Torren himself was around five feet and nine inches, and Sumatra still sat a few inches above him. They stood there for a second not completely sure what to do before Torren spoke. “I know I talk to you regularly but it feels different now that you’re... more here. So welcome back I guess?.”

“Yeah, I haven’t been here in almost 20 years. It feels weird. I’m glad that everything worked out for you and that you were able to complete the ritual without issues.”

“To be honest, I was a little worried it wouldn’t work. You have no idea how relieved I am right now.”

“So should we go back to your house and we can begin your waterbending training tomorrow?”

“Actually, I need to take care of seething first. Jakkar’s been missing for almost a full day now and I need to find him fast.”

“Alright, I’ll walk with you.”

Their search through alleyways slowly began to turn into a normal walk shared by an unlikely duo. They found themselves drawn to the marketplace where the Solstice Festival was still in full swing.

“I don’t think anybody’s noticed you, have they? Are they able to see you?”

Sumatra pondered the question for a few seconds. “I’m not sure, I don’t think anyone would say anything out of the ordinary if they could. We’ll ask your friends when we get back.”

It was at that moment that Torren remembered why they had even ended up there. “Okay, we need to go look for Jakkar. We got a little side-tracked.” Without thinking, he reached for her hand to lead her out of the crowd. His hand touched another hand and grabbed it as he led it through the sea of people. 

It was only once they were no longer surrounded by tons of people that Torren looked down at his hand to see what he had grabbed. It was Sumatra’s hand, with the rest of her body following close behind it. He finally realized that the parameters of what he was and wasn’t able to do with the ritual were a lot wider than he thought. He and Sumatra both looked down at her hand in his in surprise at what they had accidentally discovered. Torren gasped in genuine shock as Sumatra looked at him amusedly.

“What’s with the face?” he asked her. 

“Oh nothing, I just found it funny how long it took you to realize we can make physical contact.”

“So you knew?”

“No, I realized it as soon as I started getting dragged through a crowd by my arm.”

They continued lightly chatting as they continued walking when Torren noticed a note that was stuck on the wall in the back of an alley. It was big enough that it looked important and clearly hadn’t been there for very long so Torren walked closer to read what it said:

_ “Avatar, we have the kid. We don’t want to kill him, but we will if we have to. Come to the cliff overlooking the lake before sunrise after the Solstice and we’ll trade him for you. Otherwise, he dies.” _

Although the note wasn’t signed, he could tell it was from the three benders that had been hunting them.

\---

Torren immediately began walking in the direction of the cliff mentioned in the note. Sumatra hurried behind him but Torren didn’t even turn to look at her. “You’re going to try to talk me out of going, aren’t you?”

Sumatra sighed. “Usually I would. I think it’s a bad idea and you should at least think of a plan before just going in and hoping for the best… But you need to be able to decide things for yourself. As the Avatar, you need to be able to make your own decisions. So even if I personally disagree with your choice, I’m no longer the Avatar so you need to be able to do things without me trying to tell you not to. That being said, I’m still going with you. Since I am drawing on your power to be here, the farther apart we are the more power I’ll drain from you.”

They kept walking in silence down the empty streets, which under any other circumstances would have felt very intimate. Instead, they felt like they lined the path to death and Torren was just following along. He kept walking faster and faster until what was just brisk walking turned into a full-on sprint. 

Torren arrived at the foot of the cliff and spared no time to catch his breath before walking up to meet The Ringmaster, The Bounty Hunter, and The Airbender. The Airbender was hunched over sitting on a large rock to Torren’s right and The Bounty Hunter was to his left standing next to Jakkar who was on the ground with his hands and feet tied together and a rope around his mouth. The Ringmaster was standing directly in between Torren and the edge of the cliff, pleased to see that he had come. 

“Alright, I’m here. Now let the kid go.”

The Airbender, who was fiddling with his nails began to laugh and was then joined by The Bounty Hunter and then The Ringmaster.

“He must really think he’s a convincing actor,” spoke The Airbender as he looked up at Torren. “We’re not stupid. We would be if we just let the kid go and trusted you’d just come right on over to us after you have no reason to.”

The Ringmaster spoke next. “I’ll need to block your chi so you can’t do anything. Then we’ll let the kid go, then we can tie your hands. That way if you break it your end of the deal you won’t be able to bend.”

Torren rolled his eyes and walked over to The RIngmaster slowly. He held his hands open, presenting himself to The RIngmaster sarcastically. The Ringmaster expertly raised his hands into position to prepare to block Torren’s chi, but when he tried to move them towards Torren they were stopped for a second. The Ringmaster looked and saw that Torren had been stalling so he could build up bits of earth on his fingertips and temporarily stop his strike. The RIngmaster quickly used earthbending to get rid of the earth, but the time it took for him to process everything was enough for Torren to nail him with a punch in the face.

The Bounty Hunter and The Airbender stood up and ran towards Torren. The Bounty Hunter shot a blast of fire at Torren and The Airbender fed it oxygen to make it more powerful. Torren used two pillars to propel himself above the attack, but the size of it made it impossible to completely clear in time. He brought his legs up tightly into his chest, minimizing the damage and leaving the bottoms of his feet only slightly singed. 

As he was falling, Torren extended both of his legs towards The Airbender, shooting fire at him from them. The Airbender pierced through the blanket of fire, allowing him to disperse it before it hit him. Torren landed on his feet rolling out of the landing, immediately flinging a slab of earth at each of his opponents, who each dodged them with ease. 

The Bounty Hunter shot more fire at Torren, who redirected it at The Ringmaster. By the time The Ringmaster raised a wall to block the fire, Torren was already under attack from The Airbender and The Bounty Hunter simultaneously. Torren quickly stood directly between the two, knowing they wouldn’t risk hitting each other if he dodged. 

His judgment was off, however, as he found himself in the middle of a powerful fire attack from his left and a powerful air attack from his right. Quickly weighing his options, Torren struck his arm down toward the ground, and the earth beneath him dropped a few feet, just out of the range of both attacks. 

As he took a deep breath, Torren sunk himself deeper into the ground and closed off the top of the hole. Knowing he had a short time to enact his plan, he carefully thought of where The Bounty Hunter would be. He bent the earth right around him to let him travel underground and raised his fist upward. 

Torren didn’t see what happened next, but he knew exactly what did. In front of his fist, a pillar of earth raised out of the ground, just beneath The Bounty Hunter’s chin. The force caused The Bounty Hunter’s head to snap backward, but he stayed standing. Then as Torren shot himself up from beneath the ground, the ground beneath The Bounty Hunter moved forward, causing him to fall on his back. To ensure that his plan could be completed, Torren quickly shot two blasts of fire at both The Ringmaster and The Airbender just to keep them busy.

Then without a moment’s hesitation, Torren stomped on the ground in front of The Bounty Hunter and sharply raised his hand to his own chin level. A sharp spike of earth raised along with Torren’s motion, penetrating The Bounty Hunter’s skull from behind, then emerging through his left eye socket soaked in blood. His eye left a trail of blood as it rolled down the cliff and Torren turned to face his two remaining enemies.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN---_ **


	19. Chapter 19

Torren stood in shock as the gravity of what he did really sunk in. He had been all hyped up from the battle and was ready to fight his two remaining enemies, but he then realized what he had done. He killed a person. Someone who had grown up in a certain way, someone with a specific personality, someone with all sorts of relationships, and he had ended that. That would no longer continue on in the world because of him. He zoned out, even in the middle of the battle to process what he had done.

The Ringmaster took advantage of Torren’s split-second reaction and flung a rock at his head. Torren noticed it as it was about to hit him, but he wasn’t able to process it fast enough and got hit in the forehead by it. 

The force from the rock hitting him sent his head back, taking him headfirst into the ground. As he was about to hit the ground, Torren instinctively exhaled a large gust of air, pushing himself upwards just enough to flip his feet over and get them under himself before making contact with the ground. The maneuver worked to an extent but he wasn’t able to land perfectly, meaning he fell backward after his feet made with the ground.

The Airbender and The Ringmaster spared no time before continuing their attack. The Airbender sent a massive blade of air at where Torren’s chest would be if he were standing up, and The RIngmaster sent a shockwave through the ground in Torren’s direction.

From his sitting position, Torren pushed off of his feet, lunging at both of his enemies. He was careful to remain in between both of the attacks as he propelled himself with fire. Once he passed the attacks, he touched the ground but continued sliding. He was disrupted when The RIngmaster raised a wall in his path, causing Torren to trip over it. He landed standing up and swiped his left arm across his body, sending out a wave of fire.

It was met by a large wall The Ringmaster created to protect both him and The Airbender. Torren smiled as he recognized that The Ringmaster had done exactly what he had wanted him to. Torren sprinted at the part of the wall he knew The Airbender was behind. Arriving there, he extended his arm in a punching motion as a piece of the wall was shot back at The Airbender. 

It hit his stomach, causing him to double over in pain. Torren created an opening big enough for him to step through and grabbed The Airbender’s head, bashing his knee into his face. The front of his pants was now covered in blood from The Airbender’s now broken nose, a fact which caused Torren to wince when he thought of how he would explain it. The Ringmaster saw what happened with Torren and The Airbender and ran at both of them.

Torren slammed The Airbender’s head down and ran to meet The Ringmaster. They both began attacking relentlessly at the exact same time, Torren with fire and The Ringmaster with earth. Torren spread his arms out, then brought them in front of his chest, keeping them extended. The earth being shot at him suddenly was combined into a large bullet-shaped rock, which Torren guided past himself to his left. It hit The Airbender, who had been standing back up at that time. It punctured his solar plexus, going through his body and coming out of the other end soaked in blood. The blood only splattered for a second before The Airbender’s corpse collapsed on its back, causing a pool of blood to spread from his head. 

\---

Torren was still shocked but was ready to continue fighting almost immediately. The RIngmaster lifted up three large boulders and began hurling them at Torren, replacing each one he threw with another. Torren evaded most of them and was able to shatter the ones he wouldn’t be able to before they hit him. 

As Torren continued running at The RIngmaster, he felt his feet start to shift to the right. Eventually, he began to fall sideways and looked down to see a massive crater where the ground used to be. He continued falling down the now vertical ground and made a platform to land on as he was about to fall off. He looked up to see The Ringmaster standing perpendicular to the vertical ground as if he was being suspended by an invisible string. He walked sideways over to Torren and stopped when he was just above him. Torren looked up at him and got into a fighting position. 

They both stood looking at each other for a few seconds, analyzing their opponent and their options. Then, they simultaneously attacked. The Ringmaster suddenly dropped off of the ground and began falling towards Torren, who was running up the ground at him. The Ringmaster turned his body, angling his legs downward towards Torren. 

Torren wasn’t able to get out of the way and The Ringmaster’s kick connected with the side of his head, The impact felt much more powerful than a foot and he understood how The Ringmaster had been staying on the ground despite it being angled perpendicular to the ground. The toes and bottoms of his boots were made with earth in them, allowing him to stay standing on the ground even with gravity pulling him down.

Torren got knocked off of his platform and began falling again, this time catching himself by bending a handhold in the ground. The sudden stop on his arm put strain on the socket causing Torren to yell out in pain. He bent another platform beneath himself and looked at The Ringmster who was now standing to his left. Torren flung a rock from the ground at The Ringmaster, who dodged it effortlessly.

Torren’s suspicions had been confirmed. Despite how powerful The RIngmaster was, he was using most of his power to keep the ground suspended in the air at a vertical angle, and a lot of the remaining power to keep himself on it. He was effectively no longer able to earthbend anything in addition to the ground unless he was willing to risk letting himself fall off of the ground. Torren shot a big wave of fire at The Ringmaster, who began running up the ground to avoid it. He was unable to outrun it and was hit by the wave, causing him to tumble down the ground. 

He was able to regain his hold on the ground and smiled at Torren. The ground began tilting further past the vertical angle and Torren began to fall off. He was now hanging from his hands in a gap on the ledge, now unable to do anything to defend himself. The Ringmaster began calmly walking towards him upside down as Torren tried to think of his options. As The Ringmaster approached Torren, he suddenly dropped from the ledge. He closed his eyes and when he was about to hit the ground, he opened them to reveal them glowing the same shade of white like the smoke from when Sumatra appeared. Sumatra, who had been watching from below, suddenly disappeared. Torren began levitating and shattered the ground The Ringmaster had been standing on. He began falling and Torren pulled him by the earth in his boots. Torren grabbed him by the neck, his bright white eyes staring at him intimidatingly. Feeling the anger flowing through him for all of the trouble he caused him, not to mention what he ended up doing to Temorane’s arm, he raised the other hand in a fist. Remembering what he did to The Bounty Hunter and The Airbender, he hesitated for a second. 

He regained his focus and punched his fist at The RIngmaster’s face. His head folded all the way back, his neck clearly broken. Torren tossed him upwards and slammed his fist into The Ringmaster’s back, sending him barreling towards the ground. 

As Torren descended back to the ground, he raised all of the pieces of the ground that he had shattered and placed them back into their previous positions, burying the corpses of The Bounty Hunter, The Airbender, and The Ringmaster.

**_\---END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN---_ **


End file.
